In a media briefing on Tuesday, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, expressed concern over the serious impacts of funding suspensions on global health services. He highlighted the halt in HIV treatment, setbacks in polio eradication efforts, and limited resources for responding to mpox outbreaks in Africa.
Tedros specifically addressed the suspension of funding to PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), which led to an immediate disruption in HIV treatment, testing, and prevention services across 50 countries. Although life-saving services were temporarily exempted, programs aimed at preventing HIV among high-risk groups were excluded. Clinics have shut down, and health workers have been sent home.
The WHO Director-General urged the U.S. Government to reconsider its approach to funding, at least until a solution can be found to maintain essential health services in affected regions.
Tedros also provided an update on the Ebola outbreak in Uganda, where nine cases, including one death, have been confirmed. WHO has deployed emergency teams to assist with surveillance, treatment, and infection control measures. A vaccine trial began just four days after the outbreak was declared, and a therapeutics trial is awaiting approval.
To help sustain the response, WHO has allocated an additional $2 million from its Contingency Fund for Emergencies, in addition to the $1 million already provided.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, ongoing violence has led to a severe humanitarian crisis, with over 900 deaths and more than 4,000 injuries reported. WHO warns that only one-third of those in need of healthcare in North and South Kivu are receiving it. The crisis also increases the risks of infectious disease outbreaks like mpox and cholera.
Resources, including medicines and fuel, are running dangerously low, complicating the WHO’s efforts to provide assistance.
On a more hopeful note, Tedros announced progress in the fight against childhood cancer. WHO is expanding access to cancer medications in low- and middle-income countries. The first shipments, which are being distributed free of charge, arrived in Mongolia and Uzbekistan. More shipments are planned for four additional countries.
This initiative, part of the Global Initiative on Childhood Cancer launched in collaboration with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, aims to reach 120,000 children across 50 countries within the next five to seven years. It seeks to reduce the survival rate gap between high-income and low-income nations.
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