US: The decision of the Trump administration to pause US foreign aid has “substantially disrupted” the supply of HIV treatments in eight countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned, raising concerns about a evolving health crisis.
WHO reported that Haiti, Kenya, Lesotho, South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Mali, Nigeria, and Ukraine could run out of life-saving HIV medications in the coming months.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus cautioned that the disruption could erase two decades of progress in combating HIV, potentially leading to over 10 million new cases and three million HIV-related deaths.
Beyond HIV treatment, the freeze in US foreign aid initiated by President Donald Trump shortly after taking office in January has hindered efforts to control polio, malaria, and tuberculosis.
The US Administration has been extremely generous over many years, and it is within its rights to decide what it supports, and to what extent.
But the abrupt cuts in funding from the US are putting at risk decades of progress in various health programmes across the world. We ask… pic.twitter.com/LmLOL00UkZ
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) March 17, 2025
Additionally, the WHO-coordinated Global Measles and Rubella Laboratory Network, which operates more than 700 sites worldwide, faces an imminent shutdown. This development coincides with a resurgence of measles in the United States.
“The United States has a responsibility to ensure that if it withdraws direct funding for countries, it’s done in an orderly and humane way that allows them to find alternative sources of funding,” Ghebreyesus stated.
In Afghanistan, the funding crisis threatens 80 percent of WHO-supported essential healthcare services. As of March 4, 167 health facilities had already shut down due to budget constraints, and over 220 more could close by June without urgent intervention.
The US government’s decision to withdraw from WHO has intensified financial strain on the agency, which typically receives about 20 percent of its annual funding from the United States.
The agency announced plans to reduce its emergency operations funding target for the 2026-2027 period from $1.2 billion to $872 million.
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