Gets the imageHIV, polio, mpox and bird flu programs have suffered from freezing foreign aid from the United States, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said.
US President Donald Trump has taken steps to close the US Agency on International Development (USAID), claiming that his expenses are “completely unexplained”.
However, who’s chief of Dr. Tedroz Odhan Gebreyz called on the Trump administration to consider restoring the financing of assistance until other decisions are found.
HIV treatment and other services were broken in 50 countries, it said at a briefing on Wednesday.
For the first time, the D -R -Tedroz publicly speaking publicly about the freezing of US assistance, at the Virtual Press Conference in Geneva, Dr. Tedroz said: “There are actions that the US government … which we are concerned have a serious impact on global health.”
In particular, he pointed to the suspension of the Pepfar, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS, which, he said, stopped the treatment, trials and prevention in 50 countries.
He added that the appeal to save life did not stop the violation.
“The clinics are closed and the healthcare providers were put on vacation,” D -Tedros said.
Health experts warn about the spread of the disease, He also delays the development of vaccines and new treatments as a result of reduction.
Trump claimed that USAID is “incompetent and corrupt”.
He recently announced huge 10,000 agency labor cuts and the immediate suspension of virtually all her assistance.
The agency spends about $ 40 billion (32 billion pounds) – about 0.6% of the US state expenses – on humanitarian aid, most of which go to healthcare programs.
The vast majority of USAID money is spent in Asia, south of Sahara and Europe, where it is primarily used for humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.
Elon Musk, a billionaire working on the White House to reduce the size of the federal government, previously claimed that the assistance agency is a “criminal organization”.
Neither Trump nor Musk presented obvious evidence confirming their claims.
As well as freezing on USAID, President Trump has taken steps to abandon the US from WHO.
Under Biden’s administration, the United States was the largest sponsor of the UN Health Agency, and in 2023 it introduced almost one -fifth of the agency’s budget.
D -ry Tedroz said Trump’s decision influences cooperation between global health threats. He also said that the US had reduced the report on bird flu cases in humans.
In the WHO, it used emergency measures similar to those used during a pandemic to fill in the gaps where there is a deficiency – in rescue antiretroviral drugs, such as the treatment of people living with HIV.
Megi Dagerti, director of Global Wiv, hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections, said that efforts to coordinate the exchange of vital supplies of drugs between the countries.
However, she said she needed a better, long -term decision: “We are looking for support from the country to exchange, but this is a short -term approach.”
