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The World Health Organisation (WHO) acknowledged on Tuesday that the freeze on US foreign aid funding has disrupted critical global health programmes but vowed to continue delivering assistance to those in need.
The UN health agency said it was still assessing the full impact of the funding halt by the United States, historically the world’s largest aid donor.
However, WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris admitted that certain initiatives had already been affected, including the global measles surveillance network, which had been entirely reliant on US funding.
“There is a big shortfall,” Harris told reporters in Geneva regarding measles monitoring. “We’re not going to let it collapse,” she added, though she acknowledged the challenge of maintaining the programme without US financial support.
Janet Diaz, head of the Safe Scalable Care unit at WHO’s emergencies programme, said the US aid freeze had also impacted efforts to combat an ongoing Ebola outbreak in Uganda.
“WHO has had to step up and cover areas it usually doesn’t support,” she said, pointing to emergency measures such as transporting biological samples and deploying surveillance teams to border areas.
To fill the gap, WHO has released $3.4 million from its emergency contingency fund to bolster the response.
Infection prevention and sanitation efforts in crisis zones have also been affected, Diaz said, adding that WHO was now exploring ways to “deliver with less” while strengthening partnerships and seeking alternative donors.
Despite the funding challenges, Harris reaffirmed WHO’s commitment to its mission.
The funding freeze stems from an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump on his first day in office on January 20, suspending all foreign aid for 90 days to allow for a review of spending.
However, the move has since led to sweeping cuts that rights groups warn have already harmed millions worldwide.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk, a close ally of Trump, defended the decision on Monday, insisting on X, the social media platform he owns, that “no one has died as a result of a brief pause to do a sanity check on foreign aid funding. No one.”
