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U.S. Ends Funding for Thousands of Global Health Programs

By India Edwards HealthDay Reporter

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on Feb 28, 2025.

FRIDAY, Feb. 28, 2025 -- The U.S. government has ended funding for some 5,800 global health programs, cutting off critical support for projects that provide vaccines, life-saving medications and emergency health care to millions of people globally.

The move came in a wave of emails from the U.S. State Department that began Feb. 26.

The emails informed thousands of health groups, refugee camps, tuberculosis clinics and polio vaccination projects that their funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) had been terminated, according to a report from The New York Times.

“This award is being terminated for convenience and the interest of the U.S. government,” the notice read.

The cuts affect a wide range of programs -- from HIV treatment and malaria prevention in Africa to maternal health care in Nepal.

“People will die, but we will never know, because even the programs to count the dead are cut," said Dr. Catherine Kyobutungi, executive director of the African Population and Health Research Center.

The New York Times confirmed that major projects that are now canceled due to the funding cut include:

• $131 million grant to UNICEF’s polio immunization program, which funded planning, logistics and vaccine delivery for millions of children.

• $90 million malaria prevention contract that provided bed nets, malaria tests and treatments for 53 million people.

• A project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which ran the only water source for 250,000 displaced people living in conflict zones.

• All operating costs for the Global Drug Facility, along with 10% of the drug budget for the world’s largest tuberculosis medication supply program, serving nearly 3 million people, including 300,000 kids last year.

• HIV care and treatment projects in Lesotho, Tanzania and Eswatini run by the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, which serves 350,000 people, including 10,000 children and 10,000 pregnant women receiving care to prevent HIV transmission to newborns.

• A project in Uganda to identify contacts of people with Ebola, conduct surveillance and bury those who died from the virus.

• A $34 million medical supply management contract in Kenya.

• Eighty-seven shelters in South Africa, supporting 33,000 women who survived rape and domestic violence.

• Community health program in Yemen that identified malnourished children.

• Pre- and postnatal health services in Nepal that provided care for 3.9 million children and 5.7 million women.

• A program in six West African nations run by Helen Keller International that provided medicine to more than 35 million people to prevent and treat neglected topical diseases.

• Severe acute malnutrition treatment project in Nigeria, serving 5.6 million children and 1.7 million women. As a result, 77 health facilities have stopped treating kids who are severely malnourished, putting 60,000 under 5 at immediate risk of death.

• Health clinics in Sudan, cutting off all health services in one of the largest areas in the Kordofan region.

• Malnutrition and maternal health project in Bangladesh serving 144,000 people, providing food for malnourished pregnant women and vitamin A for kids.

• REACH Malaria program that provided malaria drugs to children, protecting more than 20 million people in 10 African countries.

• A Plan International program that provided medical supplies, nutrition support and clean water for 115,000 people displaced or afrfected by Ethiopian conflict.

• More than $80 million in funding for UNAIDS, supporting global HIV treatment programs, including data collection.

• A program of the President’s Malaria Initiative that provided mosquito control in 21 countries.

• HIV and tuberculosis care program in Uganda, run by Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation, treating 46,000 people.

• Smart4TB research consortium, the leading global research group developing tuberculosis prevention, diagnostics and treatment strategies.

• Demographic and Health Surveys project, the main data collection program in 90 countries, providing vital data on maternal and child health, nutrition and more.

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Posted February 2025

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