Trump Halts HIV Funding For Nigeria, Others, Gives Reasons
United States President Donald Trump has halted the support for HIV treatment in Nigeria and other developing countries.
The US State Department stopped the disbursement of funds from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) for at least 90 days.
The stoppage of the U.S. foreign assistance for at least 90 days was to review all programmes.
The only exceptions are emergency humanitarian assistance and military financing for Israel and Egypt.
This follows President Trump’s executive order on foreign aid, which he signed on his first day in office on Monday, January 20.
PEPFAR is a programme for HIV treatment in Africa and developing countries.
The programme was created by President George W. Bush in 2003 to prevent HIV/AIDS, save lives and curb the spread of the virus.
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All US government agencies managing foreign development assistance programmes were instructed to halt the disbursement of funds.
Speaking on the ban, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said, “The United States is no longer going to blindly dole out money with no return for the American people.”
As reported by NPR, PEPFAR is likely to suspend operations for at least three months as it has stopped disbursing funding.
The development has sent shock waves through the global health community.
PEPFAR has an annual budget of $6.5 billion, which helps to deliver HIV/AIDS treatment to more than 20.6 million people.
The US State Department fact sheet showed that PEPFAR has saved the lives of an estimated 26 million people since its inception.
Asia Russell, executive director of the HIV access organization Health GAP, said an immediate order to halt funding is “catastrophic” and “much more cruel.”
“He is doing irreparable harm to the global AIDS response.”
Over the years, PEPFAR has contributed over $6 billion to support Nigeria’s national HIV/AIDS response, according to reports.
The suspension or permanent halt to the programme is thus likely to affect the efforts to control HIV in Nigeria, with about two million Nigerians currently living with the virus.
Many Nigerians living with HIV are benefitting from PEPFAR.
Olamilekan Adigun is a graduate of Mass Communication with years of experience in journalism embedded in uncovering human interest stories. He also prioritises accuracy and factual reportage of issues.