The decision by the US administration to suspend US foreign aid has “substantially disrupted” the supply of HIV treatment medications to Ukraine and seven other countries, which may soon run out of these vital drugs, says the World Health Organization (WHO), according to Reuters.
On 20 January, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order suspending all foreign aid programs for 90 days pending reviews to determine if they align with the US interests. Two months later, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the US had officially closed 83% of the programs of the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
The WHO noted that Haiti, Kenya, Lesotho, South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Mali, Nigeria, and Ukraine could exhaust their HIV treatment supplies in the coming months.
“The disruptions to HIV programs could undo 20 years of progress,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, adding that the decision could lead to more than ten million additional HIV infections and three million related deaths.
The WHO-coordinated Global Measles and Rubella Laboratory Network, consisting of over 700 centers worldwide, is also at risk of closing. This comes at a time when measles is making a comeback in the US.
Ghebreyesus, commenting on the threat, said that “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.”
The funding shortage could also lead to the closure of 80% of essential health services in Afghanistan, supported by WHO.
As of 4 March, 167 medical institutions had ceased operations due to a lack of funding, and more than 220 could close by June without immediate intervention.
Plans for the US to withdraw from the WHO have also forced the UN agency, which typically receives about a fifth of its total annual funding from the US, to freeze staff hiring and initiate budget cuts.
The WHO has announced its intentions to reduce targeted funding for emergency operations to $872 million, down from $1.2 billion for the 2026-2027 period.
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