U.S. Global Health Aid Cuts: A Human Rights Crisis

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PHR is documenting the harms of aid cuts and defending the right to health for all.

In January 2025, the Trump administration issued executive orders that abruptly froze and slashed billions in global health and humanitarian aid. These sudden cuts reversed decades of progress in areas like HIV/AIDS, maternal health, infectious disease response, and conflict recovery.

The consequences of these cuts are immediate and devastating: Health clinics closed. Newborn care disrupted. Trauma care and services for sexual violence in conflict zones dismantled. HIV outreach services cancelled. Infectious disease spreading. Preventable deaths mounting. These are not abstract losses – they are measurable harms affecting millions of people around the world with lasting impact on health and dignity.

Our Work

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is leading research and advocacy that recognizes U.S. global aid cuts as a massive regression in the realization of human rights. Our goal: to catalyze coordinated global leadership to protect and restore health services for the world’s most at-risk communities.

PHR’s strategy is grounded in our three core pillars: document the impact of these policies, empower our partners and global networks of clinicians to speak out for reform, and advocate for reversals to the devastating cuts. We are exposing the human impacts of the cuts through rapid assessments, research briefs, and partnerships with academic institutions to generate and amplify measurable, attributable evidence. We are working closely with partners in affected regions to gather testimonies and data that show the legal, political, and ethical responsibility for the severe repercussions resulting from the aid cuts.

At the same time, we are empowering frontline health workers, public health experts, and community advocates to speak out. Through media, testimony, and engagement with policymakers, we are elevating the voices of those most directly affected – those who can most powerfully illustrate why health aid is not a gesture of charity, but a legal and ethical obligation.

The right to health must be protected. The stakes could not be higher; millions of lives hang in the balance. Join us as we document these harms, empower communities, and advocate for reform.

Reseach Briefs

“The emerging impacts of the Trump administration’s global health cuts are both devastating and wholly preventable. 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.” – Thomas McHale, SM, Director of Public Health, PHR