Global Health Council Urges Immediate Action to Resume Life-Saving Foreign Assistance Amid Uncertainty
Millions of Lives Are At Risk As Aid Remains Frozen
Global Health Council reiterates our concern about the Trump Administration’s recently issued “stop work order,” which freezes all existing foreign assistance programming and pauses any new aid with very limited exceptions. This action follows on the President’s Executive Order on Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid, mandating a review of U.S. foreign assistance programs. We understand the need for a thoughtful review process and applaud Secretary Rubio’s waiver for core life-saving medicine, medical services, food, shelter, and subsistence assistance. At the same time, the global health community is grappling with how the waiver can and should be implemented.
“Organizations that provide these lifesaving products and services are eager to restart operations that comply with Secretary Rubio’s waiver,” says Global Health Council’s President and CEO, Elisha Dunn-Georgiou. “However, a lack of clarity and guidance from the administration regarding which activities are included in the waiver, and when funding will resume, has left the delivery of this critical aid in limbo and millions of lives hanging in the balance. The freeze in funding isn’t just halting programs — it’s also costing American jobs, and forcing organizations to furlough and lay-off people committed to this vital work.”
The State Department’s stop work order abruptly halted life-saving programs — such as maternal and child health services, HIV/AIDS treatment, and pandemic preparedness — causing widespread confusion and disruption. While a review of foreign aid is appropriate to ensure that the generosity of American taxpayers is used efficiently and effectively, it should not come at the expense of existing, Congressionally-appropriated funding for programs that advance U.S. national security, economic interests, and global leadership.
Organizations cannot restart programs covered by the waiver without clear guidance and funding. Until they get both, they remain immobilized. As they wait, the human toll grows:
- People around the world are more vulnerable to the spread of deadly diseases with monitoring and surveillance activities halted. Bird flu surveillance in 49 countries has been stopped — this, after an American already died from the disease. Surveillance has also been discontinued for drug-resistant tuberculosis worldwide. Tuberculosis has resurged to become the world’s top infectious disease and the U.S. is currently experiencing its own outbreak in Kansas.
- Close to 6 million people in Kenya, Uganda, and Ghana will be impacted as critical malaria prevention campaigns are stopped. Seasonal prevention campaigns for children, who are particularly vulnerable, have been disrupted, putting millions of young children in West Africa at greater risk of the life-threatening consequences of severe malaria.
- The more than 200,000 people living with HIV ⸺ 7,445 of whom are children under the age of 15 ⸺ who pick up new supplies of antiretrovirals every single day will not get the medications they need to survive. Even brief interruptions in HIV treatment increase the possibility of resistance, worsening the crisis, and risking a significant resurgence of the disease.
- Millions of children under the age of five (4.5 million in the Democratic Republic of Congo alone) face acute malnutrition as maternal and child nutrition programs, therapeutic feeding centers, and programs for pregnant and breastfeeding moms are shuttered.
Secretary Rubio has repeatedly stated that every dollar America spends abroad should be accountable and answer three key questions: Does it make us stronger? Safer? More prosperous? The answer for foreign aid is a resounding “yes.” Despite making up less than 1% of the federal budget, it delivers unmatched returns — preventing crises, strengthening alliances, protecting Americans from global threats, and opening markets for U.S. businesses.
We urge the administration to immediately clarify the waiver on the stop work order, restore funding flows, and prevent further disruption and loss of life. A strategic review does not require a halt to life-saving programs. America’s leadership is on the line.