HIV Care In Eight Countries Threatened To Stop Due To USAID Fund Cuts

WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. (Wikimedia Commons/MONUSCO)

JAKARTA - The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday that the Donald Trump Administration's decision to stop US foreign aid had "substantiated" the supply of HIV care in eight countries, which could soon run out of life-saving drugs.

The global health agency said Haiti, Kenya, Lesotho, South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Mali, Nigeria, and Ukraine could run out of their HIV care supplies in the coming months.

"The objection to the HIV program could cancel progress for 20 years," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference.

Tedros said this could lead to more than 10 million additional HIV cases and three million HIV-related deaths.

Efforts to contain HIV, polio, malaria and tuberculosis have been influenced by the cessation of US foreign aid implemented by President Donald Trump shortly after he took office in January.

The WHO-coordinated Campak and Rubella Global Laboratory network, with more than 700 locations worldwide, is also facing an imminent shutdown, the agency said. This happened at the time ofemployment again in the United States.

The United States has "responsibility to ensure that if countries withdraw their direct funds, it is done in an orderly and humane manner that will allow them to find alternative funding sources," Tedros said on Monday.

The lack of funds could also force 80 percent of critical health care services supported by WHO in Afghanistan to close, the agency said in a separate statement.

As of March 4, 167 health facilities have been closed due to lack of funds, and without urgent intervention, more than 220 other facilities could be closed in June.

The United States' plans to leave the WHO have also forced the UN agency, which usually receives about a fifth of its overall annual funding from the US, to freeze recruitment and start budget cuts.

The WHO said on Monday it plans to cut funding targets for emergency operations to USD 872 million from USD 1.2 billion in the 2026-2027 budget period.