Global health aid plunges to 15-year low as US leads cuts in ‘era of austerity'
Money that provides healthcare to some of the poorest and most in-need people across the world has been dramatically slashed this year, led by the administration of US President Donald Trump.
The new study published in the prestigious Lancet journal also pointed to recent steep aid cuts announced by the UK, France and Germany.
After reaching an all-time high of US$80 billion in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic, the total amount of global health aid will sink to US$39 billion (RM165 billion) this year, the US-led team of researchers estimated.
That would be the lowest level since 2009. Such a dramatic change will result in the world entering a new 'era of global health austerity', the authors of the study warned.
Sub-Saharan African countries such as Somalia, the war-torn Democratic of Congo and Malawi will be hit worst because most of their health funding currently comes from international aid, according to the study.
The funding cuts will have a major impact on the treatment and prevention of a range of diseases, including HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, it added
The US slashed its global health funding by at least 67 per cent in 2025 compared to last year, according to the research. The UK cut its funding by nearly 40 per cent, following by France with 33 per cent and Germany with 12 per cent.
The researchers at the US-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation called for the world to urgently ramp up health aid. They also warned that nations would likely need find other sources of funding.
The study was released as AIDS experts meet in Rwanda's capital Kigali for an international conference on HIV science.
The US foreign aid cuts alone are estimated to result in the preventable deaths of more than 14 million people by 2030, according to a different Lancet study published earlier this month.
For comparison, around 10 million soldiers were killed during World War I. — AFP
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
2 days ago
- The Sun
France says it cannot save contraceptives US plans to destroy
PARIS: France said Friday it could not seize $9.7 million worth of women's contraception products that the United States plans to destroy, after media reports suggested the stockpile would be incinerated in the country. The contraceptives were purchased by the US foreign aid agency USAID under former president Joe Biden to be provided to women in some of the world's poorest countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. But Donald Trump's administration, which has dismantled USAID since Trump succeeded Biden in January, confirmed last month it intends to destroy the contraceptives being stored in a warehouse in the Belgian city of Geel. According to several media reports, the unexpired products were to be incinerated in France at the end of July by a company that specialises in destroying medical waste. France's government has come under pressure to save the contraceptives, with women's rights groups calling the US decision 'insane'. But the health ministry told AFP that 'unfortunately there is no legal basis' for French or even European health authorities to intervene to recover the stockpile. 'Since contraceptives are not drugs of major therapeutic interest, and in this case we are not facing a supply shortage, we have no means to requisition the stocks,' it added. The ministry also said it had no information on where the contraceptives would be destroyed. Where are they? It remains unclear where the contraceptives currently are -- or even if they have already been destroyed. French women's rights group Family Planning told AFP on Thursday they had been informed that the boxes had started being moved out of the Belgian warehouse 36 hours earlier. 'We do not know where these trucks are now -- or whether they have arrived in France,' the group's head Sarah Durocher said, calling on incineration companies to 'oppose this insane decision'. Exactly which company could be responsible for incinerating the products has also not been revealed. French company Veolia, which had been rumoured as a contender, confirmed to AFP that it has a contract with the US firm Chemonics, USAID's logistics provider. However the company emphasised that the contract only covers 'expired products, which is not the case for the stockpile' in Belgium. The products, which include IUDs, implants and birth control pills, are reportedly up to five years away from expiring. Belgium's foreign ministry told AFP earlier this week that it 'is exploring all possible avenues to prevent the destruction of these products, including temporary relocation solutions'. 'Senseless' The US decision has provoked an outcry in France. 'Can France accept to become the executor of a senseless policy imposed by the US?' said an opinion piece by five NGOs in the French newspaper Le Monde on Friday. Among the signatories was MSI Reproductive Choices, one of several organisations that have offered to purchase and repackage the contraceptives at no cost to the US government. All offers have been rejected. Last week, Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen pointed to the Trump administration's stated goal of reducing government waste, saying the contraceptives plan 'is the epitome of waste, fraud and abuse'. Shaheen and Democratic Senator Brian Schatz have introduced a bill aiming to prevent further US aid being wasted. A US State Department spokesperson told AFP earlier this week that the destruction of the products would cost $167,000 and 'no HIV medications or condoms are being destroyed'. The spokesperson also pointed to a policy, reinstated by Trump earlier this year, which prohibits providing aid to non-governmental organisations that promote or perform abortions. The NGO Doctors Without Borders, which has slammed the US plan as 'unconscionable', has pointed to reports that there is another warehouse with USAID-purchased contraceptives in the United Arab Emirates. A study published in The Lancet medical journal in June estimated that more than 14 million of the world's most vulnerable people could die as a result of the USAID cuts. Last month, the US also incinerated nearly 500 metric tons of high-nutrition biscuits that had been meant to keep malnourished children in Afghanistan and Pakistan alive. - AFP
Malay Mail
2 days ago
- Malay Mail
Can microplastics harm our brains? What we know so far
PARIS, Aug 2 — Tiny shards of plastic called microplastics have been detected accumulating in human brains, but there is not yet enough evidence to say whether this is doing us harm, experts have said. These mostly invisible pieces of plastic have been found everywhere from the top of mountains to the bottom of oceans, in the air we breathe and the food we eat. They have also been discovered riddled throughout human bodies, inside lungs, hearts, placentas and even crossing the blood-brain barrier. The increasing ubiquity of microplastics has become a key issue in efforts to hammer out the world's first plastic pollution treaty, with the latest round of UN talks being held in Geneva next week. The effects that microplastics and even smaller nanoplastics have on human health is not yet fully understood, but researchers have been working to find out more in this relatively new field. The most prominent study looking at microplastics in brains was published in the journal Nature Medicine in February. The scientists tested brain tissue from 28 people who died in 2016 and 24 who died last year in the US state of New Mexico, finding that the amount of microplastics in the samples increased over time. The study made headlines around the world when the lead researcher, US toxicologist Matthew Campen, told the media that they detected the equivalent of a plastic spoon's worth of microplastics in the brains. Campen also told Nature that he estimated the researchers could isolate around 10 grammes of plastic from a donated human brain—comparing that amount to an unused crayon. Speculation 'far beyond the evidence' But other researchers have since urged caution about the small study. 'While this is an interesting finding, it should be interpreted cautiously pending independent verification,' toxicologist Theodore Henry of Scotland's Heriot-Watt University told AFP. 'Currently, the speculation about the potential effects of plastic particles on health go far beyond the evidence,' he added. Oliver Jones, a chemistry professor at Australia's RMIT University, told AFP there was 'not enough data to make firm conclusions on the occurrence of microplastics in New Mexico, let alone globally'. He also found it 'rather unlikely' that brains could contain more microplastics than has been found in raw sewage—as the researchers had estimated. Jones pointed out the people in the study were perfectly healthy before they died, and that the researchers acknowledged there was not enough data to show that the microplastics caused harm. 'If (and it is a big if in my view) there are microplastics in our brains, there is as yet no evidence of harm,' Jones added. The study also contained duplicated images, the neuroscience news website The Transmitter has reported, though experts said this did not affect its main findings. 'Cannot wait for complete data' Most of the research into the effects microplastics have on health has been observational, which means it cannot establish cause and effect. One such study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine last year, found that microplastics building up in blood vessels was linked to an increased risk of heart attack, stroke and death in patients with a disease that clogs arteries. There have also been experiments carried out on mice, including a study in Science Advances in January which detected microplastics in their brains. The Chinese researchers said that microplastics can cause rare blood clots in the brains of mice by obstructing cells—while emphasising that the small mammals are very different to humans. A review by the World Health Organization in 2022 found that the 'evidence is insufficient to determine risks to human health' from microplastics. However many health experts have cited the precautionary principle, saying the potential threat microplastics could pose requires action. A report on the health risks of microplastics by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health published this week ahead of the treaty talks said that 'policy decisions cannot wait for complete data'. 'By acting now to limit exposure, improve risk assessment methodologies, and prioritise vulnerable populations, we can address this pressing issue before it escalates into a broader public health crisis,' it added. The amount of plastic the world produces has doubled since 2000 -- and is expected to triple from current rates by 2060. — AFP
New Straits Times
2 days ago
- New Straits Times
15 US states sue Trump over transgender care ban
LOS ANGELES: A coalition of liberal US states on Friday said it was suing Donald Trump's administration over an order to prevent clinics providing gender-affirming care to children. The lawsuit, brought by officials from California and 15 other states, as well as the District of Columbia, challenges an executive order that denounces the treatment as "chemical and surgical mutilation." The order, which Trump signed in January, calls on the Department of Justice to investigate providers who offer such treatment, even in states where it is legal. "The President and his Administration's relentless attacks on gender-affirming care endanger already vulnerable adolescents whose health and well-being are at risk," California's Attorney General Rob Bonta said. "Their demands that our healthcare providers discriminate against transgender individuals and deny them access to medically-necessary healthcare is cruel and irresponsible." The DoJ said last month it had issued more than 20 subpoenas to doctors and clinics providing treatment to adolescents. US Attorney General Pam Bondi said at the time that "medical professionals and organizations that mutilated children in the service of a warped ideology will be held accountable." The lawsuit, filed in a US District Court in Massachusetts, argues that the administration's actions have no legal basis and should be declared unlawful. "These actions have created a chilling effect in which providers are pressured to scale back on their care for fear of prosecution, leaving countless individuals without the critical care they need and are entitled to under law," said Bonta. LGBTQ+ rights have become a divisive subject in the United States, where Trump rode a wave of public support for his crusade against so-called "woke ideology." In his first days in office, Trump declared the federal government would recognise only two genders – men and women – and has targeted transgender people in a slew of other orders. In February, he issued an executive order aimed at banning transgender athletes, allowing federal agencies to halt funding to any institution that does not consider birth-assigned genders in determining sex. The lawsuit groups California with New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia. It is the latest legal effort from a coalition of Democratic-run states aimed at pushing back at what liberals see as overreach by the Trump presidency.--AFP
