The Trump administration has allowed the resumption of a series of global health initiatives, despite the continuous freezing of foreign aid and offers a boost for programs aimed at cheers such as malaria and tuberculosis.
In one memo Dated Tuesday and obtained by Stat, a USAID officer said that the Agency is “taking steps to resume or continue activities that are considered life -saving humanitarian aid.”
However, it is unclear how quickly the money starts to flow again. Much of the American support for these health initiatives goes through USAID and relies on its staff and contractors, and the Administration has moved to reduce the staff of the office And the orders of people who work abroad to return to the US (Friday afternoon federal judge Carl Nichols said he would do that Block plans temporarily To place approximately 2,200 employees on paid leave and to return almost all office drugs published abroad.)
The widespread HIV/AIDS initiative of the US, known as Pepfar Allegedly they still get no financing.
In the memo, the USAID officer, Nicholas Enrich, that services that go to tackle infant mortality and maternal death and those who are aimed at preventing and treating malaria and tuberculosis should start again within 30 days. It also says that the US must resume emergency reactions on outbreaks of infectious diseases, such as Mpox and Ebola.
In a statement, Martin Edlund, the CEO of the Malaria No More group, said the statement from a distance “An important step to get malaria drugs for millions of people who urgently need them-Mostal young children and pregnant women-in Africa Behuiden The Sahara, “and added that” we encourage the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to communicate a starting work order with all programs. “
When President Trump was inaugurated last month, in addition to stopping foreign aid for 90 days, so that it could be revised, his administration issued a stop-work order to groups that relied on that financing, which means that the work was supported It also had to be paused by existing financing. Organizations could not spread drugs or bed nets through the US, even if they were in a clinic.
Within a few days, and in the midst of a global commotion, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs gave an exemption from exemption programs from those life -saving medical services and food aid to continue. But proponents and assistants said that the update on such a vague and slapdash way was published that it was difficult to know what was allowed and what was not. The Department later clarified that HIV tests and treatment work were included under that declaration. (It did not extend to most HIV prevention -efforts, except for pregnant and breastfeeding women.)
Groups aimed at other areas of the disease have spent in recent days on the fact that other programs also had to be maintained or else there can be serious consequences.
In the case of Malaria, the US has contributed more than a third of the worldwide financing for malaria control programs in the last 15 years. Much of it is spent via the Malaria initiative of the president, a program that, like Pepfar, was started by the George W. Bush administration.
The US offers technical support to countries in Africa and Asia that try to combat the parasite transferred by mosquitoes. It pays for insecticide-treated bed nets and mosquitoes, two important prevention methods. It covers the costs of rapid diagnostics and treatments, as well as the drugs given to children during peak transfer periods to protect them against infection. It makes training for health workers in the community and the supervision of mosquitoes and the parasite themselves to see if they are developing resistance to insecticides and medicines.
That certainly counted as life -saving medical care under the distance statement, proponents argued.
“If the administration sees value in the HIV program, then hopefully they will see value in the incredible success of the president’s malaria initiative, and we can ensure that all these incredible profits we have had so far, we are not we not Losing, “Bernard Nahlen, who was deputy coordinator of the PMI was from 2007 to 2017, Stat said prior to the news that the exemption extended to malaria programs. Nahlen is now the director of the ECK Institute for Global Health of the University of Notre Dame.
About $ 4 billion was spent worldwide on malaria control and elimination in 2023. The disease still kills around 600,000 people a year, usually young children in Africa see the Sahara.
Even a short break In malaria efforts can lead to a peak in infections, research has shown. And in regions where there is seasonal transfer of the parasite (some areas have circulation throughout the year), measures must be implemented at precise times if they will be effective. Researchers were worried that the freezing meant that children would have to go through a malaria season without the preventive medicines that have been so effective.
“We are going to tear back considerably if this is not restored – the money, the contracts, the people, everything,” said Allison Tatarsky, the director of the Malaria Elimination Initiative at the University of California, San Francisco.
Malaria no longer estimated that a freezing of 90 days would prevent the delivery of 15.6 million doses of medicines that treat malaria infections, 9 million bed nets, 25.3 million diagnostic tests and 48 million doses of the preventive drugs.
Experts say that the fight against malaria needs all the support that it can get at the moment. The progress that the world has made in reducing killing has stagnated in recent years. There are also new tools, including the world’s first malaria vaccins, that are starting to roll out and that pleading of Hope can help protect the most vulnerable children against the disease.
With the clarification about the remote statement, auxiliary groups will now look to see how quickly the money starts to flow again and how quickly the paused work can be resumed. Some groups may have fired staff, and it is not clear how the unrest at USAID will influence the ability of organizations to obtain and deliver stocks. The fear is that the infrastructure that has been built up for more than 20 years can already be staggered.
“Let’s assume that things can suddenly come online again at the end of this 90-day assessment,” said Nahlen, speaking before the announcement of the distance statement. “I can assure you that it will not be easy to rebuild it.”