The United States slashing foreign aid risks piling pressure on already acute humanitarian crises across the globe, a World Health Organization official said on Sunday, also warning against withdrawing from the UN agency.
Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has effectively frozen foreign aid funding, moved to dismantle the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and other programmes, and announced plans to leave the WHO.
Washington, which had long been the WHOโs biggest donor, did not pay its 2024 dues, and it remains unclear if the United States will meet its membership obligations for 2025
The agency, already facing a gaping deficit this year, has proposed shrinking its budget by a fifth, likely reducing its reach and workforce, according to an earlier Agence France-Presse report citing an internal email.
โThe WHO with its partners have a significant role in sustaining healthcare systems, rehabilitation of healthcare systems, emergency medical team training and dispatching, pre-placement of trauma kits,โ Hanan Balkhy, the WHOโs regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, said.
โMany of these programmes have now stopped or are not going to be able to continue,โ she said.