When Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced last month that lifesaving humanitarian work would be exempt from a freeze on foreign aid, global health workers breathed a collective sigh of relief. But a new directive has put such exemptions on hold. Several senior employees at the U.S.A.I.D. Bureau of Global Health received an email Tuesday telling them to “please hold …
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Trump and Musk Bring Vast Aid Machinery to a Halt in Africa
For decades, sub-Saharan Africa was a singular focus of American foreign aid. The continent received over $8 billion a year, money that was used to feed starving children, supply lifesaving drugs and provide wartime humanitarian assistance. In a few short weeks, President Trump and the South African-born billionaire Elon Musk have burned much of that work to the ground, vowing …
Read More »With Aid Cutoff, Trump Severs a Lifeline for Millions
Funds from the world’s richest nation once flowed from the largest global aid agency to an intricate network of small, medium and large organizations that delivered aid: H.I.V. medications for more than 20 million people; nutrition supplements for starving children; support for refugees, orphaned children and women battered by violence. Now, that network is unraveling. The Trump administration froze foreign …
Read More »Dozens of Clinical Trials Have Been Frozen in Response to Trump’s USAID Order
Asanda Zondi received a startling phone call last Thursday, with orders to make her way to a health clinic in Vulindlela, South Africa, where she was participating in a research study that was testing a new device to prevent pregnancy and H.IV. infection. The trial was shutting down, a nurse told her. The device, a silicone ring inserted into her …
Read More »Trump’s Foreign Aid Freeze Leaves Millions Without HIV Treatment
Two weeks into President Trump’s sweeping freeze on foreign aid, H.I.V. groups abroad have not received any funding, jeopardizing the health of more than 20 million people, including 500,000 children. Subsequent waivers from the State Department have clarified that the work can continue, but the funds and legal paperwork to do so are still missing. With the near closure of …
Read More »Health Programs Shutter Around the World After Trump Pauses Foreign Aid
Lifesaving health initiatives and medical research projects have shut down around the world in response to the Trump administration’s 90-day pause on foreign aid and stop-work orders. In Uganda, the National Malaria Control Program has suspended spraying insecticide into village homes and ceased shipments of bed nets for distribution to pregnant women and young children, said Dr. Jimmy Opigo, the …
Read More »Health Programs Shutter Around the World After Trump Pauses Foreign Aid
Lifesaving health initiatives and medical research projects have shut down around the world in response to the Trump administration’s 90-day pause on foreign aid and stop-work orders. In Uganda, the National Malaria Control Program has suspended spraying insecticide into village homes and ceased shipments of bed nets for distribution to pregnant women and young children, said Dr. Jimmy Opigo, the …
Read More »Pause on U.S. Funding Spreads Fear of H.I.V. Spike Across Africa
As he does every three months, Sibusiso traveled on Wednesday morning to a clinic in the capital of Eswatini, a tiny southern African nation, to get a refill of the H.I.V. medication he needs to save his life. When he arrived, the door was locked and about 20 other patients stood outside, baffled that the clinic was closed. Sibusiso, 39 …
Read More »State Department Permits Distribution of H.I.V. Medications to Resume — for Now
The Trump administration on Tuesday issued a waiver for lifesaving medicines and medical services, offering a reprieve for a worldwide H.I.V. treatment program that was halted last week. The waiver, announced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, seemed to allow for the distribution of H.I.V. medications, but whether the waiver extended to preventive drugs or other services offered by the …
Read More »U.S. Halt to Foreign Aid Cripples Programs Worldwide
Treating H.I.V. across dozens of nations. Stopping the forced labor of Chinese workers. Training Mexican and Colombian police in anti-narcotics enforcement. Those are just a tiny sample of aid programs around the world operating with grant money from the U.S. government that could be permanently shut down under an executive order President Trump signed last week to halt foreign aid. …
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