The World Health Organization chief on Monday urged Washington to "reconsider" its sharp cuts to global health aid, warning that the sudden halt threatened millions of lives.
"We ask the US to reconsider its support for global health," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters, explaining that disruptions to global HIV programs alone "could undo 20 years of progress, leading to more than 10 million additional cases of HIV and three million HIV-related deaths."
When Donald Trump returned to the US presidency in January, he decided to freeze virtually all US foreign aid, including large-scale assistance aimed at boosting global health.
The sudden about-face by the country, which has traditionally been the largest donor by far, has sent the entire humanitarian community into a tailspin.
Tedros warned that cuts to direct funding for countries through the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would have a massive impact.
The years-long battles against numerous diseases, from HIV to measles to polio, would suffer immensely, he said.
"There are now severe disruptions in the supply of malaria diagnostics, medicines, and insecticide-treated bed nets due to stock-outs, delayed deliveries, or lack of funding," he added.
"Over the last two decades, the US 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," Tedros explained.
"If disruptions continue, we could see an additional 15 million cases of malaria and 107,000 deaths this year alone, reversing 15 years of progress."
The situation for HIV was similarly concerning, he said.
The halt to nearly all funding for the US anti-HIV initiative, PEPFAR, has already caused "an immediate stop to services for HIV treatment, testing, and prevention in more than 50 countries," Tedros said.
"Eight countries now face substantial disruptions to antiretroviral therapy and will run out of medicines in the coming months," he added.
"Disruptions to HIV programs could undo 20 years of progress, leading to more than 10 million additional cases of HIV and three million HIV-related deaths."
The WHO chief also pointed to the impact on the fight against tuberculosis.
"Over the past two decades, US support for TB services has helped save nearly 80 million lives," Tedros said, noting that "those gains are also at risk."
At the same time, on vaccines, he highlighted that the WHO's Global Measles and Rubella Network, which consists of more than 700 laboratories funded solely by the United States, "faces imminent shutdown."
"This comes at the worst possible time, as measles is making a comeback," he said, noting that measles vaccines in the past 50 years had saved nearly 94 million lives.
"But those gains are also at risk."
With AFP
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