WHO chief warns US aid cuts could cost millions of lives

US President decided to freeze virtually all US foreign aid, including vast assistance towards boosting health worldwide

By AFP
March 18, 2025
Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends an ACANU briefing in Geneva, Switzerland, December 15, 2023. — Reuters
Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends an ACANU briefing in Geneva, Switzerland, December 15, 2023. — Reuters

GENEVA: The World Health Organisation chief on Monday urged Washington to reconsider its sharp cuts to global health funding, warning that the sudden halt threatened millions of lives.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that disruptions to global HIV programmes alone could lead to “more than 10 million additional cases of HIV and three million HIV-related deaths”.“We ask the US to reconsider its support for global health,” he told reporters.

Besides triggering the US pullout from the WHO after returning the White House in January, US President Donald Trump decided to freeze virtually all US foreign aid, including vast assistance towards boosting health worldwide.The sudden about-face by the country that has traditionally given most by far has sent the entire humanitarian community into a tailspin.

Tedros warned that the cuts to direct funding for countries through the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would have a huge impact.