From mosquito nets to iPads: USAID selling, donating, destroying or simply abandoning items worth millions. Check list

The U.S. government has begun auctioning and offloading millions of dollars’ worth of goods following the gutting of USAID in August, according to The Atlantic. The Trump administration’s cancellation of more than 5,000 foreign-aid projects has triggered a mass shutdown, leaving federal workers and NGOs scrambling to manage leftover equipment before their projects—and in many cases, their own jobs—are terminated.

Ordinarily, when a USAID program ends, surplus items are carefully inventoried and transferred to other initiatives or handed over to local partners who can put them to use. This time, however, the abrupt closures have resulted in auctions, abandonment, and in some cases outright destruction of valuable resources.

Some staff and NGOs have tried to salvage the situation by donating supplies where possible, even without USAID-backed programs to receive them. Meanwhile, the State Department has taken over about 20% of the surviving projects.


As per the report, in Myanmar, after the termination of a malaria project, an NGO redirected USAID-purchased bed nets and medical gear to the country’s collapsed health system.

In Nigeria, the report said, at least 140 vehicles and over 1,300 office and IT items were transferred, while embassy auctions listed computer equipment and generators.

In Guatemala, embassy auctions sold iPads, ring lights, megaphones, and defibrillators—13 lots fetched just $13,600.

Nepal & Ethiopia: Hundreds of cars, motorbikes, and millions in clean-water tools remain stranded and unused.

What’s Happening to USAID Property

Items Sold / Auctioned

Mosquito nets
Water towers
Printers & iPads
Office furniture & chairs
Generators (used/new)
Defibrillators
Textbooks & school-supply kits
Agricultural equipment
Vehicles (cars, trucks, motorbikes)
Mobile health clinics
IT gear (computers, ring lights, megaphones, etc.)

Items Donated (via NGOs & local partners)
Bed nets
Medical tools (stethoscopes, exam tables, gloves)
Vehicles for technical colleges
Generators for hospitals (limited by fuel shortages)

Items Stranded / Abandoned
500+ vehicles in Nepal parking lots
$4 million in tools for Ethiopian water projects
20+ half-finished water & sanitation systems worldwide
Hundreds of thousands of textbooks in Afghan warehouses

Items Destroyed / Wasted
Nearly 500 tons of emergency food in Afghanistan & Pakistan
$10 million worth of contraceptives (set for incineration despite UN interest)
Expired mpox vaccines
Infant antibiotic ointments spoiled in Mozambique