Hi,

Today we bring you a thoughtful reported piece by Andrew Green, an inspiring fellow journalist on the global health beat.

In this story, Andrew draws an arc of the impact of the aid cuts as seen in three countries of Uganda, Thailand and Malawi, undertaken during his reporting journeys for much of this year.

We are grateful to him for sharing his perspectives, and bringing us these stories and images from the field in this difficult year.

Find below, also in this edition a wrap of recent headlines.

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More later.

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Priti

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I. GROUND REPORT

The Story of the Unfolding HIV Crises As Seen in Three Countries: Uganda, Thailand and Malawi

By Andrew Green

Green is a global health reporter based in Berlin. You can follow his ongoing coverage of the disruptions to the global AIDS response on his Substack, Forsaken. He can be reached at theandrewgreen@gmail.com.

The warnings came immediately after the Trump administration paused all foreign aid in late January, including support for AIDS programs. Researchers predicted that even if life-saving HIV services were quickly reinstated, the effect of the cessation would be tens of thousands of deaths and new infections. Instead, the administration proceeded to terminate programs providing support to 2.3 million people on lifesaving treatment.

In the eight months since the initial freeze, the deaths and the new infections that researchers predicted have materialized. I witnessed this suffering firsthand reporting since February from three countries—Uganda, Thailand and Malawi—that relied on U.S. support for HIV services. The decisions of policymakers in Washington upended the lives of people in these countries – and around the world. Their stories reveal just how precarious the HIV response has become, particularly for the most vulnerable.

People now fear they are being abandoned. They no longer trust any commitments from the United States and have little faith their own governments can fill the gap left by the cut to the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. They are rallying their own resources. We know that this will not be enough to stave off a surge in new infections and deaths.