Trump’s pause on foreign aid raises HIV risks for millions, World Health Organization warns
Global health authorities are raising the alarm after US President Donald Trump froze funding for anti-HIV programmes that cover treatment for 30 million people worldwide.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said the temporary pause on all foreign aid puts access to HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) diagnostics, medicines, and treatment at risk in low and middle-income countries, which could have dire health consequences.
“A funding halt for HIV programmes can put people living with HIV at immediate increased risk of illness and death and undermine efforts to prevent transmission in communities and countries,” the WHO said in a statement.
A prolonged pause on foreign assistance could take “the world back to the 1980s and 1990s when millions died of HIV every year globally”.
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As of 2023, 39.9 million people were living with HIV, with about two-thirds of them in Sub-Saharan Africa.
It remains a leading cause of death globally, with about 630,000 AIDS-related deaths that year – but that’s down from 2.1 million in 2004 thanks largely to the introduction of new medicines that curb transmission and prevent HIV from progressing to AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome).
The US funding freeze’s biggest hit will be to the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which is credited with saving more than 26 million lives since being launched by then-President George W. Bush in 2003.
In 2024, the programme provided antiviral HIV treatments for 20.6 million people in 55 countries, according to the US government.
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It also got 2.5 million started on PrEP, which prevents HIV infection and got 83.8 million people tested.
PEPFAR supports 342,000 health workers whose jobs will be affected by the funding pause, which also applies to other foreign aid programmes that collectively cover HIV treatment for 30 million people.
US pulling back from global health leadership
The pause isn’t Trump’s only move to pull back from global health leadership since assuming office last week.
He started the process of withdrawing the US from the WHO and reinstated the Mexico City Policy, which bars the US from giving money to foreign groups that perform or offer information on abortions.
The new US president’s chief complaints include criticism of the WHO’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the US’s outsized role in funding the organisation.
The WHO said it’s been working with countries where PEPFAR operates to take more ownership of the programme and reduce their reliance on donors such as the US by 2030.
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But Trump’s “sudden” funding pause could upend those efforts, making it harder to coordinate the transition and putting “the lives of millions at risk,” the agency said.
The organisation wants “exemptions to ensure the delivery of lifesaving HIV treatment and care”.
They might get some after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly issued a humanitarian waiver on Tuesday for critical health services affected by the funding freeze.
The waiver applies to “core lifesaving medicine, medical services, food, shelter, and subsistence assistance, as well as supplies and reasonable administrative costs as necessary to deliver such assistance,” The Washington Post reported.
But it is still unclear whether the exception will apply to PEPFAR.
