Ukraine, Seven Other Countries May Be Left Without HIV Treatment Due to USAID Cuts

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported this, Ukrinform reports with reference to Reuters.

The global health agency has warned that Haiti, Kenya, Lesotho, South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Mali, Nigeria and Ukraine could run out of HIV drugs in the coming months.

“Failures in HIV programmes could wipe out 20 years of progress,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference.

He added that this could lead to more than 10 million new HIV cases and three million deaths related to the virus.

The WHO-coordinated Global Measles and Rubella Laboratory Network, which includes more than 700 labs worldwide, also faces imminent closure, the agency said, as measles re-emerges in the United States.

“The United States must ensure that if funding is withheld from countries, it is done in an orderly and humane manner that allows them to find alternative sources of funds,” Ghebreyesus said on Monday.

Read also: UN mission explains impact of US aid cuts on projects across Ukraine

In a separate statement, the agency said the funding shortfall could also lead to the closure of 80% of WHO-supported essential health services in Afghanistan.

As of March 4, 167 health facilities had closed due to lack of funds, and without urgent intervention, more than 220 more facilities could close by June.

The US plans to leave the WHO have also forced the UN agency, which typically gets about a fifth of its total annual budget from the US, to freeze hiring and begin cutting spending.

On Monday, the WHO said it planned to cut its emergency funding target to $872 million from $1.2 billion in the 2026-27 budget period.

On January 20, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order suspending all foreign aid programs for 90 days pending a review of their compliance with his administration's goals.

On January 24, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered a suspension of all foreign aid programs, making an exception only for emergency food aid that could be provided in the Gaza Strip and Sudan.

On March 10, Rubio confirmed that the United States was officially closing 83% of USAID programs.