Global health has been rocked by huge cuts to U.S. aid and U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to quit the World Health Organization. Taken together, these moves represent an unprecedented disinvestment from tried-and-tested mechanisms that have provided care for billions of people around the world.
Nowhere will the costs be higher than in Africa, where vulnerable health care systems are being hit especially hard by the closure of U.S.-backed health initiatives and research projects. Despite a limited U.S. waiver that some treatment can continue under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, lifesaving programs for tuberculosis, malaria, HIV, and other diseases have been disrupted drastically and now face long-term uncertainty.
The shock actions by the Trump administration coincide with rising health care nationalism in other countries, driven by an inward-looking mantra to “serve your own before helping others.” The result has been a slew of cuts to aid budgets, the reallocation of development finance to domestic immigration issues, and the negotiation of exclusive deals to ensure priority supplies of medicines for home populations.
About the author
Jayasree K. IyerJayasreeKIyer
Jayasree K. Iyer is the CEO of the Access to Medicine Foundation, where she leads the foundation’s strategy to assess health care companies’ efforts in expanding access to essential medicines. She engages global industry leaders on practical steps to develop, scale, and supply health products to low- and middle-income countries, home to 80% of the world’s population.
