Fifty countries affected by USAID freeze, says WHO chief

Programmes to sort out HIV, polio, mpox and fowl flu have been affected by the freeze on tens of billions of {dollars} of abroad assist from the US, says the top of the World Well being Group (WHO).

US President Donald Trump has taken steps to shut the US Company for Worldwide Growth (USAID), arguing that its spending is “completely unexplainable”.

Nonetheless, WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has urged the Trump administration to contemplate resuming assist funding till different options will be discovered.

HIV remedies and different providers have been disrupted in 50 international locations, he stated at a briefing on Wednesday.

Talking publicly for the primary time concerning the freeze on US assist funding, at a digital press convention in Geneva, Dr Tedros stated: “There are actions that the US authorities is taking… which we’re involved are having a severe impression on world well being.”

Particularly he pointed to the suspension of PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Reduction, which he stated had halted HIV therapy, testing and prevention providers in 50 international locations.

He added {that a} reprieve for life-saving providers had not stopped the disruption.

“Clinics are shuttered and well being staff have been placed on depart,” Dr Tedros stated.

Consultants in world well being have warned of the unfold of illness, in addition to delays to the event of vaccines and new remedies on account of the cuts.

Trump has argued that USAID is “incompetent and corrupt”.

He not too long ago introduced enormous cuts to the company’s 10,000-strong workforce and the speedy suspension of virtually all of its assist programmes.

The company spends about $40bn (£32bn) – about 0.6% of whole US yearly authorities spending – on humanitarian assist, a lot of which matches in the direction of well being programmes.

The overwhelming majority of USAID cash is spent in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Europe, the place it’s primarily used for humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.

Elon Musk, the tech billionaire who’s engaged on the White Home’s effort to shrink the scale of the federal authorities, has beforehand claimed that the help company is “a prison organisation”.

Neither Trump nor Musk have offered clear proof to help their claims.

In addition to the freeze on USAID, President Trump has taken steps to withdraw the US from the WHO.

Underneath the Biden administration the US was the most important funder of the UN’s well being company and in 2023 it contributed nearly one-fifth of the company’s price range.

Dr Tedros stated Trump’s determination was affecting collaboration between international locations on world well being threats. He additionally stated the US had diminished its reporting of fowl flu instances in people.

The WHO says it has employed emergency measures just like these used through the Covid pandemic to fill the gaps the place there are shortages – in life-saving antiretroviral medicine, for instance, which is used to deal with folks residing with HIV.

Meg Doherty, director of world HIV, hepatitis and sexually-transmitted an infection (STI) programmes on the WHO, stated efforts have been being made to co-ordinate the sharing of significant provides of medicines between international locations.

Nonetheless, she stated a greater, long-term resolution was wanted: “We’ve got been in search of help from nation to nation for sharing, however this can be a short-term method.”