The Trump administration’s 90-day-freeze on foreign aid funding, the stop-work order issued on the U.S. Agency for International Development’s global programming, and the reinstatement of the Mexico City Policy had initially led the Nairobi-based Amref Health Africa to put 692 of its staff on unpaid leave for at least three months and halt 20 of its initiatives across multiple countries.
However, the organization has since received waivers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to continue some work covering five programs largely related to HIV in Tanzania and Kenya. This will bring about 300 of the 692 Amref staff placed on unpaid leave back to work.
But 15 of its programs are still paused and the organization’s Kefeta program in Ethiopia has been canceled. This program empowered youth “to advance their own economic, civic, and social development.”
About the author
Sara Jervingsarajerving
Sara Jerving is a Senior Reporter at Devex, where she covers global health. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, VICE News, and Bloomberg News among others. Sara holds a master's degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism where she was a Lorana Sullivan fellow. She was a finalist for One World Media's Digital Media Award in 2021; a finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists in 2018; and she was part of a VICE News Tonight on HBO team that received an Emmy nomination in 2018. She received the Philip Greer Memorial Award from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 2014.
