Eight people, including five children, have died after walking for three hours in blistering heat to seek treatment for cholera in South Sudan’s eastern Jonglei state, as United States aid cuts forced local health facilities to close.

The United Kingdom-based global charity Save the Children revealed last month’s deaths on Wednesday, saying they were among the first directly linked to cuts ordered by US President Donald Trump, who slashed funding for global health programmes under his “America First” policy after taking office on January 20.