USAID cuts could create untreatable tuberculosis bug
10/3/2025: Dangerous new forms of tuberculosis for which there is no treatment could emerge as a result of cuts in US support to poorer countries which has historically provided between $200 million and $250 million a year for TB. In 2023, there were 10.8m new cases and 1.25 million deaths from the disease.
Source: The Guardian
Gavi delays $9 billion replenishment event
10/3/2025: Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, has pushed back its high-level replenishment summit by three months. An already rough fundraising environment has become exponentially worse as the Trump administration has rapidly dismantled USAID. However, there are signs that the US government sees the importance of Gavi’s work.
Source: Devex
The urgent need to rethink Africa’s health financing
3/3/2025: The Trump administration's abrupt gutting of USAID has aggressively shoved the African continent into a health financing crisis for which it wasn’t prepared. Last fiscal year, the US spent around $12 billion on global health funding — most of which was disbursed in sub-Saharan Africa.
Source: Devex
US shutdown of HIV/Aids funding ‘could lead to 500,000 deaths in South Africa’
28/2/2025: Sweeping notices of termination of funding have been received by organisations working with HIV and Aids across Africa, with dire predictions of a rise in deaths as a result. Projects funded by the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar), founded by George W Bush in 2003, appear to be particularly affected.
Source: The Guardian
Critical global surveys fall casualty to US foreign aid gutting
28/2/2025: USAID staff responsible for funding global Demographic and Health Surveys have received notices of termination. These long established critical data sets cover HIV/AIDS, malaria, nutrition, family planning, maternal and child health, gender, and fertility through over 400 surveys in more than 90 countries.
Source: Devex
Global Fund launches $18 billion replenishment in tough environment
18/2/2025: The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is seeking $18 billion to continue its lifesaving work, claiming a return of $19 in health and economic benefit for every dollar invested. The Global Fund has been dependent on the US for about 30% of its funding.
Source: Devex
Thousands of African health workers lose jobs due to US aid freeze
13/2/2025: As USAID’s funding freeze leads to mass layoffs of African health workers - around 54,000 in Kenya alone - experts warn of an escalating crisis in healthcare access. Those affected include professionals working in maternal and child health, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and malaria prevention.
Source: Devex
WHO warns that US funding cuts threaten global health
12/2/2025: The World Health Organization's Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has urged the US Government to reconsider its funding suspension. He points to disruptions to HIV treatment, setbacks in polio eradication and limited resources for responding to mpox epidemics in Africa.
Source: UN News
Confusion, fear as PEPFAR partners suspend HIV services
30/1/2025: Hundreds of service providers in sub-Saharan Africa and across other countries that are supported by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief have been ordered to stop their work, as a consequence of Trump’s executive order pausing foreign development assistance for 90 days.. Any interruption of lifesaving antiretroviral drugs is dangerous for people who are living with HIV.
Source: Devex
How Africa may lose from US leaving World Health Organization
29/1/2025: President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the US from the World Health Organization will be keenly felt across the globe, with profound implications for health in Africa - where increases in mortality and morbidity could be a consequence of closed programmes.
Source: The Conversation