The Trump administration's abrupt and wholesale gutting of the U.S. Agency for International Development, cancellation of thousands of its contracts, and culling of its workforce is expected to have wide-ranging, devastating impacts on Africa’s health sector.
This includes areas such as the delivery of antiretroviral treatment for people living with HIV, polio immunization, malaria and tuberculosis prevention and treatment, and disease surveillance, among many other types of programs. Last fiscal year, the U.S. spent some $12 billion on global health funding — most of which was disbursed in sub-Saharan Africa.
But it's not just the U.S., the United Kingdom announced last week plans to slash aid spending to just 0.3% of gross national income — shifting billions of pounds from international development to support a larger military.