A freeze on U.S. foreign aid has halted crucial HIV programs run by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), potentially impacting hundreds of thousands of women and girls in developing countries. Experts warn of an 'exponential increase' in new HIV infections as a result of the aid halt, which disrupts access to life-saving medications and prevention services. The freeze also poses dangers to malaria and tuberculosis control efforts, disproportionately affecting women and girls in regions where these diseases are prevalent.
“I fully expect to see an exponential increase in new HIV infections,” one expert said. Women and girls are more susceptible to HIV and malaria in many developing countries.ordered a freeze to U.S. foreign aid . The pause has halted HIV programs spearheaded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, said one worker, potentially impacting some 142,000 girls and young women who received care from one of the agency’s programs last year alone.
“Disrupting these services is catastrophic,” said Sarah Charles Phillips, who previously oversaw USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance. “President Trump is ensuring that taxpayer-funded programs at USAID align with the national interests of the United States,” Kelly said. “He will cut programs that do not align with the agenda that the American people gave him a mandate in November to implement and keep programs that put America First.”
An improvised room, which was built with the help of USAID, in La Lima, Honduras, in 2022. have long argued that the organization’s results are difficult to quantify, the agency has provided little foreign aid transparency, and that it is an example of wasteful spending. However,the agency is a critical lifeline, providing often dire resources for childbirth, malaria prevention and education among other issues, where women and girls are most at risk.
Linn said that her initiative gets nets, medication and more to clinics and facilities. Without their work, these facilities will likely run out of supplies, which is particularly concerning in areas like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the initiative “Imagine, a woman going to her clinic and was expecting to get a net because she’s pregnant — if it’s a net provided with USAID funding, then that’s not happening,” Linn said of clinics that risk running out of supplies.
“A pregnant woman or a mother with her young child who is sick is going to arrive at health facilities and they are not going to get appropriately tested, they are not going to get treated,” Zulliger said of some clinics across sub-Saharan Africa.
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