Global health aid sinks to 15-year low in ‘era of austerity’

Laboratory technicians test a blood sample for HIV infection at the Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (RHI) in Johannesburg, Thursday, Nov. 26 2020. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)

PARIS, France — Sweeping foreign aid cuts led by the United States will cause international health funding to plummet to the lowest level in 15 years, a study said Wednesday, warning the world has entered a new “era of global health 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 U.S. President Donald Trump.

The new study published in the prestigious Lancet journal also pointed to recent steep aid cuts announced by the U.K., 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 $39 billion this year, the U.S.-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 U.S. slashed its global health funding by at least 67 percent in 2025 compared to last year, according to the research. The UK cut its funding by nearly 40 percent, following by France with 33 percent and Germany with 12 percent.

The researchers at the U.S.-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 U.S. 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.