Restore Humanity Campaign – Response to US Global Policies and Funding Cuts

On Monday 20th January 2025, President Donald Trump wasted no time signing Executive Orders that sent shockwaves through the global health community. He announced the US would withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO) and freeze all foreign aid programmes for 90 days. These moves threaten the lives of millions worldwide, leaving individuals, organisations, and governments scrambling to respond to avert a humanitarian catastrophe.

The United States contributed $1.284 billion to the WHO in 2022-2023, accounting for 15% of its overall budget and is its largest single donor. Without this funding, the WHO is now grappling with the Marburg virus outbreak, Mpox prevention, vaccine programmes, TB, malaria, child and maternal health, and H5N1 (bird flu) surveillance with markedly fewer resources. The WHO’s mandate to promote health, keep the world safe, and serve the vulnerable is under threat. 

On Friday 24th January 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio placed a freeze on most US-funded foreign aid programmes, suspending vital work under the pretence of a “review” for efficiency and alignment with Trump’s “America First” policy. In 2023, the US spent USD 66 billion dollars on official development assistance (the US spends the most on foreign aid of any country worldwide). 

Let us be clear: This is not a review. It is a death sentence for millions.

Trump’s twin decisions to withdraw from the WHO and freeze nearly all current US-funded foreign aid programmes are not only directly impacting our ability to reach our SDG targets but also causing devastation in the global south.

A ticking time bomb has been placed on anyone availing of life-saving medicines in PEPFAR funded clinics. A recent NYT article highlights that 600K people will die from AIDS in South Africa alone in the next decade if PEPFAR were to shut permanently – and only 20% of South Africa’s HIV budget is funded by PEPFAR. Countries that are primarily funded by US-funded programmes will see far worse outcomes. Trump’s freeze goes far beyond HIV. The freeze of USAID programmes, the withdrawal from WHO, and the CDC’s ban from working with the WHO all have colossal impacts on our work. 

Trump ‘flooded the field’ by signing so many shocking executive orders that this news may get lost in all the confusion. We must come together to ensure the Irish people know the ramifications of these stop orders and coalesce around the concrete call to action for the Irish government. 

How Can You Help?

We are calling on Irish NGOs, Civil Society Organisations, and the Global Health Community to come together to engage, advocate, campaign, and mitigate this global health and humanitarian crisis. 

If you would like to get involved, please email [email protected] to be added to the email group and receive updates.

Emergency Meeting for NGOs and Civil Society – Wednesday 29th January 2025, 3pm Ireland time

A Call to Action for Ireland

At this critical juncture, the Irish government must act. Ireland has a strong tradition of leadership in global health, a long history of good diplomatic relations with the US and a commitment to ensuring no one is left behind. Now more than ever, we must step up to mitigate this crisis. We urge the Irish government to:

1. Plug the Funding Gap: To prevent interruptions to lifesaving programmes, Irish Aid must step up to provide essential support to programmes it already partners with.
2. Diplomatic Leadership: Use every diplomatic channel to press the U.S. administration to reverse these catastrophic policies. Highlight Ireland’s significant concerns with the US consulate and demand a commitment to global health.
3. Strong and coordinated response: Convene an immediate gathering of countries and philanthropists to forge a global response.
4. Collaborate Regionally/Globally: To ensure the survival of US-financed programmes, Ireland must work with our EU counterparts and our partners in the Global South to increase regional and global financial and humanitarian support.
5. Protect Supply Chains: The Irish government must engage with its large pharmaceutical industry to ensure the medical supply chain remains intact, particularly for antiretrovirals and other essential medicines.
6. Love and solidarity, not exclusion and persecution: The Irish government on behalf of the Irish people must make Ireland’s collective values of love and solidarity into meaningful actions, overriding growing exclusionary and divisive actions and language.

Information and Resources

• Sign up to AVAC Global Health Watch Newsletter for updates
• AMFAR analysis on impact of PEPFAR closures