Global Health Council is deeply alarmed that billions in foreign aid and global health funding has been rescinded just months after being approved by Congress in Fiscal Year 2025 appropriations bills. While $400 million for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief was preserved, and new language was added to protect funding for HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, maternal and child health, and nutrition, deep cuts to family planning, reproductive health, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and the United Nations Population Fund threaten a broad range of lifesaving global health programs. These programs have improved the health of the world’s most marginalized communities, including pregnant women and newborns, young women and girls, displaced and otherwise vulnerable populations, and those facing the greatest barriers to care, such as LGBTQI+ people. 

“Sparing any one program alone is not enough,” said Elisha Dunn-Georgiou, President and CEO of Global Health Council. “If we are serious about ending preventable deaths, both at home and abroad, we must protect the full ecosystem of global health programs. Anything less is short-sighted and unjust.”

Beyond the dangerous implications for global health, the rescissions package undermines the integrity of the congressional appropriations process and raises serious concerns about executive overreach and potential impoundment. It also prompts troubling questions about the consistency of U.S. global health commitments. When funding is revoked just months after being approved by Congress, it sends a dangerous signal to global partners and weakens the credibility of U.S. leadership on the world stage. In our absence, others, including those with opposing values, will step in to fill the gap.

True leadership means standing up for equity and not retreating from our commitments. We urge Congress to protect the full range of global health investments in the FY26 appropriations bills currently being negotiated and to uphold its commitments to the people who depend on these programs to survive.