By Jennifer Rigby and Nellie Peyton
LONDON/JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – U.S.-funded health projects worldwide, including those providing lifesaving care, received termination notices on Thursday as the Trump administration neared completion of a review to ensure grants are aligned with its “America First” policy.
President Donald Trump ordered a 90-day pause on all foreign aid in January to assess whether projects were consistent with his policy aims.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had dismissed concerns that Washington was ending foreign aid, saying waivers had been provided to life-saving services.
Only weeks later, the administration decided to terminate more than 90% of the programmes globally, according to a February 25 court document, including many that were initially covered by waivers such as work tackling HIV as well as wider health programmes. It is unclear if the projects can be reinstated.
Major United Nations health programmes were among those to get termination notices, including UNAIDS, the Stop TB Partnership and Scaling Up Nutrition.
“We are hit, but we will continue to be there,” Lucica Ditiu, Stop TB’s executive director, said.
She said that the group had different sources of funding it would use for procuring TB tests and treatments, but that it would have to terminate contracts with 140 partners around the world, many of which provide services including helping TB patients get diagnosed and stay on treatment.
A global non-profit with projects on malaria and newborn health, among other areas, said the majority of its contracts had been cancelled. Smaller organisations were also hit, such as Khana in Cambodia, a TB and HIV organisation, and many organisations working on HIV and AIDs in South Africa.
There was no immediate response to a request for comment from the U.S. State Department.
Reuters was not immediately able to determine how many organisations worldwide were affected, or exactly what the criteria were for termination.
“Secretary Rubio and (USAID) Deputy Administrator (Peter) Marocco have determined your award is not aligned with Agency priorities and made a determination that continuing this program is not in the national interest,” said the notice received by organisations, which was seen by Reuters.
For some groups, USAID represents the majority of their funding, and they will struggle to survive, while for others it is only one of many donors.
‘DEVASTATING BLOW’ FOR HIV/AIDS EPIDEMIC
International AIDS Society President Beatriz Grinsztejn, referring to cuts worldwide, said: “The U.S. funding cuts are dismantling the system. HIV treatment is crumbling. TB services are collapsing.”
In South Africa, which has the world’s largest number of people living with HIV at around 8 million, health experts said the cuts could roll back years of progress on the epidemic.
“We will see lives lost. We are going to see this epidemic walk back as a result of this,” said Linda-Gail Bekker, Chief Operating Officer of the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation, which works with many organisations that were affected.
Bekker said she expected a funding cut for programmes targeting specific groups such as LGBT+ people and sex workers, but in fact the cuts are far-reaching and include HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programmes for women and children.
“We haven’t heard of anybody not getting a termination,” said Lynne Wilkinson, a public health expert in South Africa, referring to USAID-funded programmes.
The United States provides about 17% of South Africa’s HIV/AIDS budget, and health experts said this funding was crucial for providing testing and getting new patients on treatment.
“The programmes who received their termination letters this morning were among the most efficient, effective health delivery programmes in the country,” said Francois Venter, executive director of the Ezintsha Research Centre in Johannesburg, which is not funded by USAID, calling it a “devastating blow” for South Africa’s HIV response.
(Reporting by Nellie Peyton in Johannesburg and Jennifer Rigby in London; Additional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk in Washington; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
