Trump’s USAID freeze puts millions of women and girls at risk, experts warn
Women and girls are more susceptible to HIV and malaria in many developing countries.
In Malawi, clinics could soon be running out of critical HIV medication, unable to replenish their supply since the Trump administration ordered a freeze to U.S. foreign aid. The pause has halted HIV programs spearheaded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, said one worker, potentially impacting some 142,000 girls and young women who received care from one of the agency’s programs last year alone.
“When you suddenly turn off those programs, I fully expect to see an exponential increase in new HIV infections,” said the USAID worker, who requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation and whose focus was on HIV in women and girls but was laid off last week. “People who have been living with HIV don’t have their medications that keep them virally suppressed so that they don’t pass it on to others.”
It’s just one example of how the United States’ 90-day hold on international aid and attempts this week to dismantle USAID, the country’s international humanitarian and development arm, have led to dire consequences for women and girls around the world.
A federal judge on Friday said he will pause a midnight deadline for USAID to slash its workforce to a few hundred from more than 5,000. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, said he would be entering a “very limited” temporary restraining order.
Over half a dozen USAID workers told NBC News in interviews before the judge’s order that they are already seeing alarming interruptions in lifesaving care. In addition to maternal and child health, USAID focuses largely on prevention and treatment of HIV, malaria and tuberculosis — diseases that impact women and girls at disproportionate rates compared to men and boys in some developing areas around the world. The agency is also heavily involved in services that support gender-based violence.
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