Global Health Aid Plummets to 15-Year Low Amid US and European Funding Cuts
Global Health Aid Plummets to 15-Year Low Amid US and European Funding Cuts
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A recent study published in The Lancet reveals that global health aid is set to fall to its lowest level since 2009, marking a new “era of global health austerity,” Dawn E-Paper reported. After peaking at $80 billion in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, international health funding is projected to drop sharply to $39 billion in 2025.
The steep decline is primarily driven by significant cuts from major donors, led by the United States, which slashed its global health funding by at least 67% compared to the previous year. The United Kingdom reduced its contributions by nearly 40%, France by 33%, and Germany by 12%. These reductions threaten healthcare services in some of the world’s poorest regions, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, including Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Malawi, where health systems heavily rely on foreign aid.
The cuts will severely impact efforts to combat diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. The US-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, which conducted the study, urged urgent increases in health aid and called for alternative funding sources to prevent a major health crisis.
The study coincides with an international HIV science conference in Kigali, Rwanda, highlighting the potential preventable deaths—estimated at over 14 million by 2030—resulting from the aid reductions, a toll comparable to the casualties of World War I.
