Millions of lives across Africa are in jeopardy as drastic reductions in U.S. and European development aid threaten to undo decades of progress in healthcare, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
Speaking at a bi-weekly media webinar on Thursday, Dr. Jean Kaseya, Director-General of Africa CDC, warned that the aid cuts could have devastating consequences for the continent’s health sector.
With the U.S. Congress set to debate the reauthorization of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) on March 25, concerns are growing over the future of critical health programs in Africa.
Official Development Assistance (ODA) currently funds 30% of Africa’s health expenditure. However, this year, ODA funding has been reduced by 70%, plummeting from $81 billion to just $25 billion.
This significant drop comes at a time when Africa is experiencing a 41% increase in disease outbreaks over the past two years.
The funding crisis is already being felt in countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where the loss of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) support has disrupted Mpox testing.
This has led to a 16% decline in confirmed cases—not because the outbreak is under control, but due to a lack of resources for testing and tracking. Delays in test turnaround times in several regions have also been reported due to logistical challenges.
Beyond the immediate impact on disease response, Kaseya cautioned that the aid cuts threaten two decades of progress in maternal and child health, infectious disease control, and poverty reduction.
Without external funding, entire health systems could collapse, leaving millions more Africans vulnerable to extreme poverty. Africa CDC projects that 39 million people could be pushed into poverty as a direct result of these cuts.
Health financing remains a persistent challenge across the continent. Only Botswana and Rwanda meet the Abuja Declaration’s commitment to allocate 15% of GDP to healthcare, while just 16 countries have national health financing plans in place.
The loss of donor funding leaves many African nations struggling to maintain essential health services.
As Washington deliberates the future of PEPFAR, African leaders are urgently seeking alternatives. Kaseya has been meeting with ministers and African Union representatives to advocate for increased domestic investment in healthcare.
He is also exploring blended financing strategies that involve the private sector, including a proposal to leverage the $95 billion in annual remittances from the African diaspora through a taxation model to fund health initiatives.
With limited time to act, Kaseya plans to meet with U.S. lawmakers, PEPFAR officials, and members of the Trump administration to push for the continuation of aid.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) has raised alarms over the global impact of these aid reductions.
It reported that the U.S. decision to pause foreign assistance has disrupted HIV treatment supplies in eight countries—Haiti, Kenya, Lesotho, South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Mali, Nigeria, and Ukraine—where shortages could soon leave patients without life-saving medication.
The WHO has urged the U.S. to ensure that if it withdraws funding, it is done in a structured and humane manner that allows affected nations time to secure alternative resources.
The aid cuts have already forced the closure of 167 health facilities in Afghanistan, and if no intervention occurs, over 220 more could shut down by June.
With the fate of millions hanging in the balance, global health leaders are calling for urgent action to prevent a public health catastrophe in Africa and beyond.
