Statement by The People’s Health Movement on the US Government’s Freezing of Foreign Aid and Its Impact on the Right to Health
The US Government’s recent policy shifts on foreign aid place millions of lives at risk around the world. There has been a 90-day suspension of all US foreign aid, a defunding and winding down of USAID, and the US withdrawal from, and end to financial contributions to, the World Health Organization (WHO). These actions have created a public health crisis.
The People’s Health Movement (PHM) strongly condemns these US Government actions, which pose a direct threat to the fundamental right to health of millions of people globally. They will severely impact health services, leading to preventable deaths and worsening health outcomes, and increase pressure on already fragile healthcare systems. The effects will be most pronounced in marginalized and vulnerable communities and countries that depend on donor-supported healthcare initiatives for survival.
While condemning these actions, PHM reiterates its long-held criticism of USAID and of most external (North-South) development aid. For decades we have noted that external aid from high-income countries to the health sector of low-income countries –purportedly to redress historical and present-day inequities– is ultimately in the interest of donor countries’ own national (health) security. The US, in particular, has been paying far less than it has promised. Moreover, even this minimal external aid has been made a part of the US’s global strategy for greater control and influence over domestic policies, to gather intelligence, and to facilitate imperial intervention. Still, given the existing high levels of inequality and disempowerment, millions of people in low- and middle-income countries have been made dependent on this assistance for essential medicines and food, and many people locally earn their livelihoods implementing these projects. The abrupt suspension of USAID’s humanitarian aid will cause an immense amount of suffering and avoidable deaths due to the disruptions this action is generating.
Furthermore, we refute and denounce the supposed intentions of the Trump administration’s suspension of USAID as an effort to correct the injustices caused to the people of the Global South; instead we believe that the aim is to make USAID, already an instrument of imperial domination, ever more ruthless, updated, and aligned with the interests and imperialist vision of the capitalist, oligarchic, and ultra-conservative faction that is guiding and nefariously reshaping the future of the United States.
Health is a fundamental human right, enshrined in international agreements such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. Not only do the US Government’s actions contradict its commitments to global health equity and sustainable development, they undermine collective progress toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly Goal 3, which aims to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all.
PHM calls on the US people to put pressure on their government to swiftly restore funding of health services purveyed by USAID. PHM also calls upon the governments of aid-receiving countries to ensure that all aid leads to the development of domestic capabilities to decrease dependence on such aid. Recently a judge issued a temporary restraining order on the USAID stop-work order. This change recognizes the protests that have been occurring as well as the court actions. It is unlikely that the current administration will understand the need for this. We therefore urge international organizations, civil society, and governments across the world to advocate for alternative funding mechanisms to mitigate dependency on external aid and use this as an opportunity to strengthen the call for a new international economic order.
The global community must stand in solidarity to protect the right to health as part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
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Joint statement by PHM South Africa and PHM Global