Over the past month, US health-policy shifts have continued to reshape the global health landscape — marked by ongoing cuts and uncertainty, but also a few bright spots. US lawmakers released a foreign-assistance appropriations bill that proposes allocating $9.4 billion for global health — higher than expected, but still below recent years and more tightly aligned with US security priorities. Friends of the Global Fight welcomed proposed FY26 funding of $1.25 billion for the Global Fund and $5.9 billion for PEPFAR, though the bill introduces new State Department mandates to accelerate country-led ownership. Some global health experts have acknowledged that while the policy shifts have been difficult, they have nonetheless driven more substantive movement toward country ownership than in the prior decade. The US has also signed new bilateral health agreements with several African countries, reinforcing a shift toward performance-based, country-led partnerships with greater domestic co-financing. Additional notes of cautious optimism include funding inclusion of Gavi’s expanded HPV coverage, HIV-prevention advances from Gilead, and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation’s expanded mandate to mobilize private capital for health security. At the same time, the administration announced withdrawals from 66 international organizations, scaled back childhood vaccination schedules and reporting — prompting alarm and lawsuits — and continued legal and policy changes affecting National Institutes of Health governance, funding priorities, and DEI-related grants, including planned expansion of the Mexico City Policy, set to affect $30B in US foreign assistance — underscoring the volatility ahead. Read more below.
Resources
Advocacy and Mobilization
- Alliance members CUGH (here and here), DNDi, FHI 360 (here and here), For Our Health (here and here), Friends of the Global Fight (here and here), GAIA, Gavi (here and here), Gilead Sciences, Global Health Corps (here and here), Global Health Council (here and here), Global Health Technologies Coalition (here and here), IDEO.org (here and here), inSupply Health, Maya Health Alliance | Wuqu’ Kawoq, MedShare, Nexleaf Analytics (here and here), North Carolina Global Health Alliance (here and here), PATH (here and here), Pathfinder (here and here), Population Services International (here and here), Public Health Institute, ReSurge International, Sabin Vaccine Institute, Seed Global Health (here and here), San Francisco Community Health Center (here and here), Stanford (here and here), UC Berkeley (here and here), UCGHI, UCSF (here and here), UNICEF (here and here), USA for UNFPA, and Vital Strategies (here and here) have spoken with the press or issued statements.
- Find and Contact Your Representatives: U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. Here is a list of key decision makers in Congress, their contact information, as well as sample language to consider.
Navigating the Legal Questions and Resources for Workers
- Humentum offers resources for navigating the foreign assistance pause.
- Connective Impact has launched an open-source resource document in response to the U.S. foreign aid policy shifts.
- Devex has summarized 5 rapid response funds for organizations affected by the US aid freeze.
- Just Security has a Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions.
- Tech Change is sharing a job board and resource curation for those impacted.
- Other job opportunities sites include: Philanthropy News Digest, Idealist.org, WorkforGOOD, FastForward, Reconsidered, The Impact Job, ExecSearches.com, and Foundationlist.org.
- Find a Job I Devex
- Nonprofit Jobs | Work for Good
- The Pivot Playbook
- Find and Fund Defunded Global Health Grants: database of defunded NIH global health research projects seeking support
- Founders Pledge: Nonprofit organization that works to bridge the gap between entrepreneurs and charities making impact in the world
- Fired but Fighting, a Coalition of Fired HHS Employees and Allies
Tracking Impact
- The Impact Metrics Dashboard (Boston University) visualizes the human impact of funding changes for aid and support organizations. The site has an impact tracker for PEPFAR, tuberculosis (TB), and Medicaid and is looking for additional collaborators. Read more.
- GHTC tracks how US investments in global health R&D are paying economic and health dividends in each state. (Learn more)
- Also see Center for Global Development I How Many Lives Does US Foreign Aid Save?
- KFF has a new series of fact sheets on the status of U.S. global health aid cuts, from maternal and child health to TB and malaria, and fact sheets on global health program impact.
- KFF also has an overview of President Trump’s executive actions on global health and a timeline of events that provides a detailed overview of actions (and counter-actions) related to the administration’s efforts to freeze all U.S. foreign aid and dissolve USAID.
- Grant Watch’s Weekly Terminated NIH Grants Report presents an overview of recent trends in NIH grant terminations, reinstatements, new grant initiations, and continuations.
- An overview of the last 30 days of what has happened to public health and a running list of actions by the Trump administration to undermine public health. [Jessica Knurick]
- Emory Rollins Public Health has shared data showing the impact of public health cuts.
- Devex Court Watch: The latest on the USAID docket
- Devex ‘The Trump Effect’, highlighting the latest news, in-depth analysis, and exclusive insights on how the Trump administration’s policies are reshaping global development.
- Gates Foundation I Health Aid Saves Lives. Don’t Cut It, provides an aggregation of US aid cut impacts
- ProPublica I Gutted: How Deeply Trump Has Cut Federal Health Agencies
- Verified and Vetted Science Accounts to Start Following for Public Health Accuracy [Cate Russel]
- State of Disunion: The Impact of Us Funding Cuts on Global Health R&D
- NEJM I Health and Medical Research Funding in a Divided America — How to Increase Support
- STAT+ | Tracking RFK Jr.’s Promises to Remake Health in America
- KFF: U.S. Global Health Country-Level Funding Tracker
Sources
January 22, 2026
- Reuters | US Set to Quit World Health Organization
- Devex | Can the US Formally Withdraw from WHO Without Paying Its Debts?
- Devex | Sen. Coons Expects Senate to Pass, Trump to Sign $50B Aid Budget Bill
- Reuters | US to Expand Anti-Abortion Aid Rule to Cover ‘Gender Ideology,’ Diversity
- Medpage Today | Guinea-Bissau Suspends Trump-Backed Hep B Vaccine Trial for Ethical Review
- STAT | Guinea-Bissau Says Plans for Controversial US-Funded Vaccine Study Need Further Review
- STAT | US Makes Exit From the Who Complete
- Politico | A US Return to the World Health Organization Could Hinge on Whether Trump Approves of Its Next Leader
January 21, 2026
- Axios | Congress pushes back against Trump’s NIH cuts
- Devex | Trump Dismantled USAID. Now These Aid Workers Are Running for Office
- STAT | As U.S. Prepares to Exit Who, It Is Stiffing the Agency on a Large Bill
- Think Global Health | The United States Leaves the WHO. Three Reforms Could Motivate Its Return
- Inside Medicine | One Year In: How the Trump Administration Has Eroded Public Health
January 20, 2026
- Devex | Global Health Council: Fighting for Billions: The Legal Battle to Keep Us Foreign Aid Alive
- Health Policy Watch | One Year Later: The Effect of US ‘Chainsaw’ on Global Health
- The Hill | Public Health Groups Sue Over CDC Vaccine Recommendations
- NPR | The Divorce Between the U.S. And Who Is Final This Week. Or Is It?
- STAT+ | House and Senate Appropriators Endorse NIH Budget Increase, Reject Trump’s Proposed Cuts
- STAT+ | What’s in Congress’ Sweeping Health Care Deal: PBM Reform, Telehealth, Science Funding
- Bhekisisa | One Year After Trump: The Day HIV Funding Changed Forever — and What Came Next
January 19, 2026
- Sci Dev | Africa Pushes Back on Us Health Deals Over Data, Power
- WEF | Gavi: Multilateral Paralysis Is Harming Global Health. Gavi’s ‘Minilateralism’ Can Get Us Back on Track
January 17, 2026
- Washington Post | RFK Jr.-Backed Infant Vaccine Study in Africa to Proceed Despite Backlash, US Says
January 16, 2026
- Think Global Health | UCSF: New US Childhood Vaccine Schedule Creates Legal Peril
- The Guardian | Controversial US Study on Hepatitis B Vaccines in Africa Is Cancelled
- Health Policy Watch | Confusion Over ‘Cancellation’ of Controversial Hepatitis B Trial in Guinea-Bissau
- Devex | The Old Aid Model Is Dead. Now Comes the Fight Over What Replaces It
- Devex | $50B US Funding Bill A Welcome Surprise, But Will It See Light of Day?
January 15, 2026
- STAT+ | Trump Releases Health Care Plan amid Pressure over Affordability
- MedPage Today | Controversial CDC-Funded Hep B Study Halted
- MedPage Today | A Newly Revised Protocol of the CDC-Funded Hepatitis B Vaccine Trial in Guinea-Bissau. “This Is Still Bad.”
- NYT | U.S. Cuts Health Aid and Ties It to Funding Pledges by African Governments
January 14, 2026
- STAT | Trump Administration Reverses Course on $1.9 Billion in Cuts to Addiction and Mental Health Grants
- NPR | Trump Administration Sends Letter Wiping Out Addiction, Mental Health Grants
- Devex | Unexpected Global Health Wins in the US Foreign Aid Bill
- New York Times | C.D.C. Brings Back Hundreds of Suspended Workplace Safety Employees
- KFF | Global Health Funding in the FY 2026 National Security, Department of State and Related Programs (NSRP) Conference Bill & Explanatory Statement
January 13, 2026
- STAT+ | Pazdur Warns That Politics, ‘Chaos’ Are Damaging FDA
- Inside Medicine | CDC/NIOSH Employees Reinstated.
- STAT+ | HHS Dismisses Members of Vaccine Injury Advisory Panel
- Washington Post | New RFK Jr. Pick for Vaccine Panel: ‘I Was Not Anti-vaccine. I Am Now.’
- Politico | Lawsuit Dismissed after Trump Admin Quietly Restored Tens of Millions to Planned Parenthood
- Devex | US Congress Backs Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, despite Trump Admin Cuts
- Devex | Inside US-UN Plan to Remake Funding for Humanitarian Crises
January 12, 2026
- The Hill | Federal Judge Orders HHS to Restore $12M in Funding to American Academy of Pediatrics
- New York Times | E.P.A. to Stop Considering Lives Saved When Setting Rules on Air Pollution
- Devex | After a Year of Chaos, US CDC’s Global Health Work Hangs in the Balance
January 10, 2026
- STAT | Opinion: The NIH Has Lost Its Scientific Integrity. So We Left
- Washington Post | Here Are the Agencies That Were Cut the Most by Trump, New Data Shows
- New York Times | Congress Is Rejecting Trump’s Steep Budget Cuts to Science
January 8, 2026
January 7, 2026
- STAT+ | Panel behind New Dietary Guidelines Had Financial Ties to Beef, Dairy Industries
- Devex | Trump Withdraws, Defunds Dozens of International Orgs and Treaties
- Think Global Health | Gavi | PSI | UNICEF: Opinion | Transforming the Global Health Ecosystem for a Healthier World in 2026
January 6, 2026
January 5, 2026
- Washington Post | US Overhauls Childhood Vaccine Schedule, Recommends Fewer Shots
- Axios | Trump Admin Drops Childhood Vaccination Reporting Requirement
- STAT+ | Federal Appeals Court Upholds Ruling Blocking NIH Cap on Research Overhead Payments
- Health Policy Watch | US EPA dismisses WHO Cancer Agency Determination that Widely Used Herbicide is ‘Probably Carcinogenic’
January 4, 2026
December 31, 2025
- STAT+ | NIH Director Says DEI-Related Grants That Were Restored under a Court Order Won’t Be Renewed
December 30, 2025
- MedPage Today | In a Tumultuous Year, US Health Policy Has Been Greatly Reshaped Under RFK Jr.
- STAT | NIH Begins Review of Thousands of Delayed Research Proposals, Funding 135 on First Day
- Substack, Jirair Ratevosian | Writing in Real Time: How 2025 Rewired Global Health—and My Work Alongside It
December 29, 2025
- STAT+ | CMS Divvies up First Payments from $50B Rural Health Fund, with an Eye toward MAHA Goals
- STAT | Trump Administration Agrees to Reconsider Frozen and Denied NIH Grant Submissions Related to DEI
December 23, 2025
- STAT+ | How the Trump Administration Is Recasting Government’s Role in Regulating Health Technology
- New York Times | Stanford: The MAHA Pipe Dream Is Going to Hurt MAGA the Most
- STAT | Trump Administration’s Plan to Shrink Vaccine Schedule Sends Health Sector Scrambling
- Devex | What Will Replace USAID’s Largest Project? No One Seems to Know
December 22, 2025
- KFF Health News | Baltimore Drove Down Gun Deaths. Now Trump Has Slashed Funding for That Work.
- The Guardian | Gavi | Gilead: Five Big Global Health Wins in 2025 That Will Save Millions of Lives
December 20, 2025
December 19, 2025
- The Guardian | US Plan for $1.6M Hepatitis B Vaccine Study in Africa Called ‘Highly Unethical’
- STAT+ | FDA Voucher Program Has Become Vehicle for Political Interference in Drug Review Decisions, Staffers Say
- KFF Health News | Inside the FDA’s Vaccine Uproar
- STAT+ | Gilead | GSK | Merck: White House Unveils Largest Batch of Drug Pricing Agreements Yet
- New Yorker | The Role of Doctors Is Changing Forever
December 18, 2025
- STAT | Opinion: What I’ve Learned by Mapping the Impacts of NIH Cuts
- STAT | Stanford, UCSF: As Dangerous Eugenic Ideas Spread, NIH Falls Silent
- STAT | In Major Effort to End Gender-Affirming Care, Trump Administration Takes Aim at Hospitals
- STAT+ | NIH Funding Rates for Early-Career Researchers Plunged in 2025, New Data Show
December 17, 2025
- ProPublica | Inside the Trump Administration’s Man-Made Hunger Crisis
- STAT | Amid Talk of a Brain Drain, Some Scientists Leave US Behind
- STAT | RFK Jr., Unconstrained by Congress, Presses Ahead to Reshape Health Care
- The Hill | House Passes GOP Health Care Bill Without Obamacare Subsidy Extension
- Washington Post | American Academy of Pediatrics Loses HHS Funding after Criticizing RFK Jr.
December 16, 2025
- HHS | Secretary Kennedy Adds Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Metachromatic Leukodystrophy to Newborn Screenings
- Health Policy Watch | Near Unanimous Adoption of UN Declaration on NCDs and Mental Health – Only US and Argentina Opposed
- Reuters | Trump’s Top Aide Criticizes How USAID Was Dismantled in Vanity Fair Interview
- Devex | State Department Scrambles to Rebuild Foreign Aid Workforce
- STAT+ | Former NIH leader Jeanne Marrazzo Sues Administration Over Termination
- STAT | CDC Approves New Hepatitis B Vaccine Recommendation as Some Hospitals Reject Changes
- Wired | New Head of Trump’s Cancer Panel Speculated About Links Between Vaccines and Cancer
- STAT | Two Rare Diseases Added to Newborn Screening Recommendations
- Devex Invested | DFC Gets a Long-Awaited Glow-up