HQ Times
March 18, 2025: The strides made in disease containment and eradication such as malaria, HIV, and tuberculosis in the last 20 years are at risk because of the “abrupt US aid fund withdrawals,” according to officials of the World Health Organization (WHO).
The withdrawal of funding for malaria vaccines and HIV medicines will see eight countries running out of antiretroviral therapy by the end of the year, according to the WHO. Cessation of the availability of malaria vaccines, medicines, and insecticide-treated nets could see an additional 15 million cases of malaria and 107,000 deaths this year alone, reversing 15 years of progress, he said.
The global health agency said that Haiti, Kenya, Lesotho, South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Mali, Nigeria, and Ukraine could exhaust their supply of HIV treatments in the coming months.
“Nine countries have reported failing procurement and supply chains for TB drugs, jeopardizing the lives of people with TB,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the WHO press conference.
Undoing decades of progress
The suspension of most funding to PEPFAR—the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief—has caused an immediate stop to services for HIV treatment, testing, and prevention in more than 50 countries. But the fund withdrawals for countries through USAID, the US CDC, and other agencies can see all the good work being undone.
Disruptions to HIV programs could undo 20 years of progress, leading to more than 10 million additional cases of HIV and 3 million HIV-related deaths—more than triple the number of deaths last year, cautioned the world body officials.
27 countries in Africa and Asia are facing crippling breakdowns in their response to tuberculosis, with shortages of human resources, disruptions to diagnosis and treatment, data and surveillance systems collapsing, and vital community engagement work deteriorating.
Over the past two decades, U.S. support for TB services has helped to save almost 80 million lives. Those gains, too, are at risk.
Since 1974, measles vaccines have saved nearly 94 million lives, but those gains are also at risk.
Last year, there were 57 large or disruptive measles outbreaks, and that number has been increasing for the past three years. The agency warned that it is not restricted to the poorer countries; contagious diseases tend to travel fast.
Other diseases that will feel the blow of the axe include polio and avian influenza. The fund cessation will affect almost 24 million, according to the WHO.
US largest bilateral donor
Over the last two decades, the U.S. has been the largest bilateral donor to the fight against malaria, helping to prevent an estimated 2.2 billion cases and 12.7 million deaths.
Mr Ghebreyesus acknowledged that the US administration has been extremely generous over many years, and is within its rights to decide what it supports, and to what extent. But he pointed out that the withdrawal could have been in a more humane manner, and allowed the countries time to find alternate sources of funding.
He also wanted other donors to step up and cautioned the funds-reliant countries to also become more self-sufficient in public health matters.
