NEW DELHI: The United States’ pause on foreign aid contributions is having a serious impact on global health, hitting programmes fighting polio, HIV and other threats, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

Tedros urged the US to consider resuming aid funding until solutions can be found. “There are actions that the U.S. government is taking… which we’re concerned are having a serious impact on global health,” said Tedros in a virtual press conference from Geneva.

Efforts to tackle HIV, polio, mpox and avian flu were all impacted by the U.S. foreign aid pause implemented by President Trump last month shortly after he took office while the programs are reviewed.

In particular, Tedros said, the suspension of funding for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) had caused an immediate stop to HIV treatment, testing and prevention services in the 50 countries it supports.

Despite the subsequent waiver allowing some services to resume, prevention efforts for at-risk groups were not included, he said.

“Clinics are shuttered and health workers have been put on leave,” he added, saying that the WHO is trying to help countries fill gaps in supplies of anti-retroviral drugs.

Both the funding suspension and the disengagement of U.S. institutions were also affecting the effort to eradicate polio and the response to mpox, he said, and in Myanmar, almost 60,000 people had been left with no access to life-saving services.

“We ask the US to consider continuing its funding at least until solutions can be found,” Tedros said.