Trump’s administration has ordered organizations in other countries to stop disbursing HIV medication purchased with American aid, even if the drugs have already been taken and sitting in local clinics.
The directive is part of a broader freezing in foreign aid last week. Includes the president’s emergency plan to relieve AIDS, the global health program launched by George W. Bush that is credited with saving more than 25 million lives worldwide.
The administration had already moved to stop Pepfar’s funding from the transition to clinics, hospitals and other organizations to low -income countries.
Appointments are canceled and patients are removed from clinics, according to people with knowledge of the situation who feared punishment if they were publicly talking. Many people with HIV face abrupt holidays in their treatment.
However, most federal officials are also in strict commands not to communicate with external partners, leading to confusion and anxiety, according to many people with knowledge of the situation.
US officials have also said to stop providing technical assistance to national health ministries.
“The partners we work with are shocked and do not know what to do, because their mission and commitment have been violated,” said Asia Russell, Gap Health Gap executive.
Late on Sunday night, according to an email seen by the New York Times, employees of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were ordered, effectively, to stop contacting the staff of the World Health Organization.
Later they were not even headed in the same meeting room – real or virtual – as employees or to participate in email conversations where they also deal with staff members.
Some said they were very scared to communicate with colleagues who consider friends, even if only to say goodbye and did not want to be identified with fear of punishment.
On Monday afternoon, officials worldwide were notified that Pepfar’s data systems would close at 6 pm East – about three hours after receiving the email – immediately closing access to all data sets, reports and detailed tools.
“Users should prioritize copying basic documents and data,” the email observed by the Times said.
The message has speculated that the program would not continue, as its future was already in question.
Some Republican senators have campaigned against Pepfar’s re -examination for five years, arguing that the program has promoted abortions. In March, the program was renewed for one year.
Without treatment, the levels of virus in people with HIV will quickly rest, hitting the immune system of infected people and increasing the chances of spreading the virus to others.
About one in three unprocessed pregnant women can pass the virus to their babies.
Stop treatment can also lead to the appearance of resistant executives that can spread around the world.
One study estimates that if Pepfar is over, 600,000 lives will be lost in South Africa in the next decade. And this nation is based on Pepfar only for 20 % of the HIV budget. Some poorer countries are almost entirely dependent on the program.
“This is another domino for the devastating impact of harmful freezing on the programs, letting the lives hang on balance,” said Jirair Ratevosian, who served as head of Pepfar’s staff during Biden’s administration.
