Latest news on the US crisis and its impact on global health

Simon Collins, HIV i-Base

These latest online publications cover the news items that are still not being prioritised in national media. All are recommended reading.

Life with less PEPFAR: The first 100 days in Tanzania and Uganda

Emily Bass is one of the most experienced US activists to have spent many years reporting on the development of PEPFAR and how international programmes work in different African countries.

This article for Think Global Health includes the complex issues involved in media coverage of the current international crisis. Although many people in Tanzania and Uganda are still able to access ART, the future is far less certain and difficult to predict.

Speaking in Swahili, the youth triggered gales of laughter in one another with statements that, when translated, hardly sounded humorous. “It’s funny but painful,” the translator said to me apologetically before explaining why a young woman with blonde-tipped braids made everyone chuckle. “The only fear she has is to die a shameful death. Especially when your hair falls out or any other thing that shows you have HIV. But otherwise, she is taking her medication, she has enough stock. . . that’s the only fear. The shameful death.”

Ref: Emily Bass. Life With Less PEPFAR: The First 100 Days in Tanzania and Uganda. (23 May 2025).
www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/life-less-pepfar-first-100-days-tanzania-and-uganda

Mitchell Warren on how the US legacy in HIV is unraveling

This is an overview from the head of AVAC – one of the first organisations to challenge the US administration in the courts. Open access with free login.

“We are not witnessing bold reform, but an intentional unraveling of America’s legacy in global health. And it’s happening without the congressional engagement that has, historically, yielded such remarkable success.”

Ref: DEVEX. Warren M. Opinion: The US legacy in HIV is unraveling. (29 May 2025).
www.devex.com/news/opinion-the-us-legacy-in-hiv-is-unraveling-110187

Death, sexual violence and human trafficking

“American diplomats in at least two countries have recently delivered internal reports to Washington that reflect a grim new reality taking hold abroad: The Trump administration’s sudden withdrawal of foreign aid is bringing about the violence and chaos that many had warned would come.”

This report from ProPublica includes outcomes from the withdrawal of international programmes that collapsed overnight, and the impact on some of the most vulnerable people in some of the world’s most fragile economies.

Ref: ProPublica. Death, Sexual Violence and Human Trafficking: Fallout From U.S. Aid Withdrawal Hits the World’s Most Fragile Locations. (28 May 2025).
www.propublica.org/article/trump-usaid-malawi-state-department-crime-sexual-violence-trafficking

HIV activists in the US call for action in JID and Zachie Achmat brings South African perspective in the Lancet

Two high profile medical journals include activist viewpoints with many long-term activists comparing the current crisis to the early days of HIV.

All stress the urgency of collaborations to fight back.

Ref: HIV activists in the US call for action in JID and Zachie Achmat brings South African perspective in The Lancet. HTB (28 May 2025).
https://i-base.info/htb/51125

“A Tide of Suffering and Death”: NYT’s Nicholas Kristof on Musk’s USAID Cuts

New York Times opinion columnist Nicholas Kristof joins Hari Sreenivasan to speak about the harrowing picture he saw in Kenya and Sudan after the USAID Supply lines were cut.

This 20-minute video and transcript includes details of children who have died since 20 January because of the loss of HIV medicines. [1]

It is linked to an NYT article by the same author challenging the claim by Elon Musk that no-one had died as a result of the US cuts. [2]

Refs:

Public Service Broadcasting (PSB). “A Tide of Suffering and Death”: NYT’s Nicholas Kristof on Musk’s USAID Cuts. (20 March 2025).
www.pbs.org/wnet/amanpour-and-company/video/a-tide-of-suffering-and-death-nyts-nicholas-kristof-on-musks-usaid-cuts
Kristof N. Musk Said No One Has Died Since Aid Was Cut. That Isn’t True. New York Times. (15 March 2025).
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/03/15/opinion/foreign-aid-cuts-impact.html