The United States is planning to suspend funding for GAVI, an organisation that produces and supplies vaccines to developing countries, including Nigeria.
A document prepared by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) also revealed that the Donald Trump administration is planning to scale back its malaria interventions.
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According to Reuters, the report, outlining a list of international aid programmes set to be dismantled and those that will be retained, was shared with US lawmakers on Wednesday.
The document states that a total of 5,341awards will be cancelled, amounting to nearly $76 billion. Of this, the government has already committed to spending about $48 billion.
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This funding will support HIV and tuberculosis interventions and provide food aid to nations experiencing civil wars and natural disasters.
The US will, however, be terminating the majority of its health projects and interventions, including those related to malaria, a disease endemic in Nigeria.
Impact on children
According to the State Department spokesperson, the projects that were terminated were those that failed to meet those priorities or advance US national interest.
“Each award terminated was reviewed individually for alignment with agency and administration priorities. Critical USAID programme awards remain active,” the spokesperson said, according to Reuters.
But GAVI chief executive officer Sania Nishtar insists that millions of children will die as a result of the US cutbacks.
Mrs Nishtar told Reuters that the US annual $300 million funding is vital for its operation.
As a result, next week, Mrs Nishtar will accompany GAVI’s board chairperson, José Barroso, on a pre-scheduled trip to Washington, where they will advocate for continued US funding.
“If we don’t get US support, that translates into 1.2 million deaths over the next five years, among children who will be unprotected against deadly diseases like measles and diphtheria,” she was quoted as saying.
“I really look forward to engaging. We hope that a final decision has not been made,” she said.
Health bodies affected by US policy
GAVI is likely to become one of the global health bodies whose activities will be affected by Mr Trump’s America First policy.
Since his return to the White House, the administration has significantly cut down foreign World Health Organisation
aid and terminated around 80 per cent of contracts.
In January, President Trump halted funding to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and paused all foreign aid to developing countries — a move that has significantly affected healthcare services in Nigeria.
The administration is actively seeking to dissolve USAID, a US agency that coordinates and implements 90 per cent of the country’s foreign aid across countries.
PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported the termination of 83 percent of USAID programmes and 5,200 contracts awarded by the agency.
WHO also had to cut down some of its spending and suspend some of its programmes in the absence of US funding.
The plan to cut aid for GAVI threatens vaccine supply to developing countries like Nigeria, which receives a significant amount of its vaccines from the body.
In 2024 alone, Nigeria received thousands of doses of Mpox, malaria, cholera, and meningitis (MenFive) vaccines from GAVI.
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