InternationalWHO chief fears millions of deaths due to US funding freeze
SDA
17.3.2025 - 19:19
ARCHIVE - Tedros, WHO Director-General. Photo: Carsten Koall/dpa
Keystone
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the cut in US aid funding will lead to massive setbacks in the global fight against deadly diseases such as malaria and HIV. If support from the United States continues to fail to materialize, this could lead to 15 million additional malaria cases and around 107,000 additional malaria deaths this year, warned WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in Geneva.
Keystone-SDA
17.03.2025, 19:19
SDA
According to Tedros, a lack of US funding is already leading to bottlenecks in the prevention and treatment of malaria and HIV/Aids. The interruption of HIV projects could lead to three million HIV deaths, more than three times as many as last year, Tedros said.
Global network of measles laboratories on the brink of collapse
He also warned of setbacks in the fight against tuberculosis and measles. A global network of more than 700 measles and rubella laboratories, funded exclusively by the United States, "is on the brink of collapse", Tedros said.
His predictions referred to the drastic financial cuts at the development agency USAID and other US institutions that support health projects in other countries. US President Donald Trump has also announced the withdrawal of the United States from the WHO, which will lead to painful financial restrictions at the UN health organization.
The US has the right to decide how and to what extent it helps, Tedros said. "But the US also has a responsibility to ensure that its direct financial assistance is withdrawn in an orderly and humane manner so that countries can find alternative sources of funding," he warned.