U.S. Aid Cuts Lead To Preventable Deaths, Medicine Shortages, Health Worker Layoffs In Kenya And The DRC

Scoop

6 days ago

July 24, 2025
The abrupt and sweeping cuts to U.S. global health support has led to preventable deaths, shortages of medicines, and reduced access to services for vulnerable communities in both Kenya and Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to two new research briefs published today by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR).
'Sexual violence survivors unable to access post-rape care. Stockouts and shortages of life-saving HIV, TB, and malaria medications. Uterine ruptures and maternal deaths. The emerging impacts of the Trump administration's global health cuts are both devastating and wholly preventable,' said Thomas McHale, SM, director of public health at Physicians for Human Rights (PHR). 'With its sudden cuts, the United States pulled the rug out from under some of the most vulnerable children and adults in the world. National governments, health workers, and other donors did not have a chance to plan or make alternative arrangements. We are now seeing the deadly consequences of the Trump administration's cruelty.'
PHR calls on the United States to reverse the cuts and on the national governments of Kenya and DRC to prioritize health services. Other donor governments should also scale up assistance.
PHR's new evidence on the aid cuts impacts in Kenya and DRC, and a recently published research brief on Ethiopia, comes as the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit considers AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition v. U.S. Department of State, a lawsuit brought by global health NGOs against the U.S. government. The NGOs argue that the Trump administration did not have the authority to cut nearly all congressionally approved foreign aid and dismantle USAID. While the United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) was excluded from the recissions package, Congress must monitor that previously authorized funding is spent in advance of PEPFAR renewal in the fall.
PHR's new Kenya research brief ('The System is Folding in on Itself': The Impact of U.S. Global Health Funding Cuts) is informed by 30 interviews with clinicians, nurses, peer educators, survivor advocates, and community-based organizations across 10 counties in Kenya, conducted in May-June 2025.
The DRC research brief (Abandoned in Crisis: The Impact of U.S. Global Health Funding Cuts in Democratic Republic of the Congo) is informed by interviews with 15 medical professionals, humanitarian actors, and staff implementing projects in the conflict-affected North Kivu, South Kivu, and Kasaï regions of the DRC, conducted from May-July 2025.
In Kenya, impacts of the U.S. funding cuts include:
Widespread stockouts of essential medicines, with health workers across all 10 counties reporting frequent and prolonged shortages of critical items, including antiretrovirals (ARVs), HIV test kits, nevirapine for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission, early infant diagnostic kits, tuberculosis (TB) reagents, sexually transmitted infection medications, and routine childhood vaccines.
Mass layoffs of health care personnel, with tens of thousands of workers furloughed and extreme pressure on remaining health workforce.
Marginalization of vulnerable groups, as programs are cut that served LGBTQ+ individuals, children with disabilities, people living with HIV, and survivors of sexual and gender-based violence.
Reversing progress on HIV and TB, including increasing mother-to-child HIV transmission. 'We are seeing new cases among newborns – something we had virtually eliminated just a few years ago,' a nurse in Uasin Gishu County told PHR. TB programs include case-finding efforts have ground to a halt, risking unchecked spread of TB across borders.
Childhood immunization programs are struggling, with 12 out of 47 counties in Kenya reporting complete stockouts of polio and measles vaccines.
The brief finds that 'the health crisis unfolding in Kenya is not an isolated effect of global health aid cuts; it is emblematic of the widespread impacts and a warning sign of broader fragility that threatens to reverse decades of progress in public health. PHR's data show that that abrupt U.S. aid cuts have disrupted essential services, destabilized HIV programs, weakened disease surveillance, and left marginalized populations without the care they need.'
In DRC, where conflict and displacement have affected the eastern part of the country for years, PHR's new brief finds that aid cuts are compounding health crises for the region's civilians:
Clinicians report additional uterine ruptures, maternal deaths, and cervical cancer cases. Many patients must choose to pay for services out-of-pocket or leave health care facilities untreated, pushing a trend of delayed access to care. Previously free treatment for obstetric fistula patients, including surgical care and hygiene kits, has been halted.
Medical and public health experts interviewed by PHR report increased threats from mpox, malaria, and tuberculosis due to the suspension of vaccination campaigns and the loss of free treatment.
In a region that has seen a massive influx of conflict-related sexual violence, survivors are no longer able to access the full suite of care, including access to post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) kits, which contain emergency contraception, HIV medication to prevent infection within 72 hours, testing kits, treatment for sexually transmitted infections, a forensic documentation form, and other items essential for caring for survivors of sexual violence. Many health clinics have run out of PEP kits.
The research brief finds:
'Health care workers in North Kivu, South Kivu, and Kasaï have been left without the tools and resources they need to save lives. The cuts were not accompanied by meaningful transition plans to ensure continuity of services. The impacts of the funding cuts can already be seen in preventable deaths, untreated infections, and irreversible harm to survivors of sexual violence who are not able to access treatment for sexually transmitted infections and life-saving medicines to prevent HIV infection and pregnancy.
'By abruptly cutting global health funding, the United States has triggered a global human rights crisis that is harming the most vulnerable populations. DRC and Kenya must step-in to provide available, accessible, acceptable, and quality health services,' said McHale. 'Our new findings show that restoring global health funding is an ethical imperative and a life-saving necessity. The stakes could not be higher – millions of lives hang in the balance. It is not too late to save lives.'