Health

As the U.S. Exits Foreign Aid, Who Will Fill the Gap?

Published

1 year ago

February 24, 2025

As the U.S. Exits Foreign Aid, Who Will Fill the Gap?

As the reality sets in that the United States is drastically diminishing its foreign assistance to developing countries, an urgent conversation is starting among governments, philanthropists, and global health and development organizations.

It is centered on one crucial question: Who will fill this gap?

Last year, the United States contributed about $12 billion to global health, money that has funded treatment of H.I.V. and prevention of new infections; children’s vaccines against polio, measles and pneumonia; clean water for refugees; and tests and medications for malaria.

The next largest funder is the Gates Foundation, which disburses a fraction of that amount: its global health division had a budget of $1.86 billion in 2023.

“The gap that has been filled by the U.S. cannot be easily matched by anybody,” said Dr. Ntobeko Ntusi, the chief executive of the South African Medical Research Council.

U.S. assistance has been channeled through the United States Agency for International Development, or U.S.A.I.D., which the new Trump administration has largely dismantled, and other government agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, which is also facing substantial cuts in health research grants.

Many people are suggesting that other countries, particularly China, could move into some of the areas vacated by the United States, Dr. Ntusi said. Others are making urgent appeals to big philanthropies including the Gates Foundation and Open Philanthropy.

This conversation is most consequential in Africa. About 85 percent of U.S. spending on global health went to programs in or for African countries.

For countries such as Somalia, where U.S. aid made up 25 percent of the government’s whole budget, or Tanzania, where the U.S. funded a majority of public health care, the loss is catastrophic. And for the major global health agencies, the situation is similarly critical.

President Trump has already pulled the U.S. out of the World Health Organization, which is now trying to make an initial budget cut of $500 million for 2026-27 to cope with the withdrawal of American funds.

“Most of our neighbors on the continent, they’ve been completely reliant on the U.S. to procure most of the lifesaving medications for endemic infections,” Dr. Ntusi said. “And I don’t see most of the governments overnight being able to have the resources to cope. And so I think there’s going to be devastating consequences on lives lost from Africans who will die of preventable infections”

The U.S. is the largest donor to Gavi, an organization that supplies essential vaccines to the world’s poorest countries, and to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The U.S. contribution is required by Congress. Asked about the commitment to these and other multilateral agencies including the Pandemic Fund, a State Department spokesperson said that the programs were being reviewed to see if they aligned with the national interest, and that funding would continue only for those that met this condition.

Who Steps In?

There is no indication that additional funding will come from the other G7 countries, the European Union or other high-income nations. Britain, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Scandinavian countries have all reduced their foreign aid. Some new donor countries have come forward to support the W.H.O., including Saudi Arabia and South Korea, but their spending is dwarfed by the amount the U.S. once gave.

Of nongovernmental players, the World Bank is best placed to provide long-term support for health spending. The bank has said little so far. It could offer countries hit hard by the U.S. cutoff innovative financing such as debt-for-health-care swaps to give nations struggling under heavy debt burdens some fiscal freedom to make up lost health care funding. However, the U.S. is the largest shareholder of the bank, and the Trump administration would have influence over any such investment.

Much of the public discussion about filling the vacuum left by the U.S. has focused on China, which has built a significant presence by financing infrastructure projects in African countries, particularly those with extensive mineral reserves or strategic ports.

“There is good reason for them to do so,” said Ja Ian Chong, an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore. China regards foreign aid as a soft-power tool in its superpower rivalry with the United States, much as the United States did when setting up U.S.A.I.D. during the height of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. China seeks to use aid to garner more support from developing countries in the United Nations.

While Chinese aid has largely come in loans to build infrastructure, it includes support for more varied projects. China’s answer to Western development aid, a program unveiled in 2021 called the Global Development Initiative, includes $2 billion for upgrading livestock production in Ethiopia, fighting malaria in Gambia and planting trees in Mongolia, among other projects.

Mr. Chong said China’s ability to fill the opening left by U.S.A.I.D. could be constrained by its own financial limitations. China’s economy has stagnated because of a property crisis and rising government debt, and the country has already scaled back on big infrastructure loans.

To date, China has shown little interest in supporting global health programs, or in providing grants on a scale anywhere near U.S.A.I.D. levels. AidData, a university research lab at William & Mary in Virginia, estimates that Beijing provides about $6.8 billion a year in grants and low-cost loans.

Philanthropies

Philanthropies that were already working in global health have been deluged with panicked calls from organizations with frozen funds.

“I have talked to some foundations who have all said we’re being inundated with people saying, ‘Help us, help us, help us,’ and I think they’re trying to patch little holes,” said Sheila Davis, the chief executive of the nonprofit Partners in Health, which works with local governments to bring health care to communities in developing countries. But if a patchwork bailout can cover just 20 percent of what the U.S. was paying for, what should a new donor save? she asked. “Do you choose to save one program fully and then let others go? Or what is the best strategy?”

Chief among the foundations fielding pleas for help is the Gates Foundation, which has been warning its grant recipients that it cannot make up the gap. In addition to funding global health programs, the foundation also supports health research and is a major contributor to Gavi.

“There is no foundation — or group of foundations — that can provide the funding, work force capacity, expertise, or leadership that the United States has historically provided to combat and control deadly diseases and address hunger and poverty around the world,” the foundation’s North America director, Rob Nabors, said by email.

Multiple recipients of Gates Foundation funding, who declined to speak on the record because they were describing confidential conversations, said they had been told by foundation staff members that it would continue to fund research and programs in the areas it already worked, but wouldn’t expand significantly, and that while some grants might be restructured to try to compensate for part of the lost U.S. funding, the foundation’s work would continue to be “catalytic” rather than support large-scale programming like U.S.A.I.D. did.

John-Arne Røttingen, the chief executive of the Wellcome Trust, which is among the largest donors to global health research, said in an email that the foundation was “exploring what options might exist” in the new landscape. But, he said, its help would be “a drop in the ocean compared to what governments across the world need to provide.”

A couple of small organizations, such as Founders Pledge, have started “bridge funds,” ranging from about $20 million to $200 million, to try to help plug immediate gaps.

But the philanthropic sector has largely been silent about the momentous change in the landscape. Major players that have already put hundreds of millions of dollars into health care in Africa, such as the Susan T. Buffett Foundation, did not respond to questions about their plans. The Delta Foundation (co-founded by the Zimbabwean telecom billionaire Strive Masiyiwa) declined to discuss the issue.

Two executives at smaller private foundations said there was a reluctance to say anything publicly because of fear of retribution from the Trump administration, including a potential loss of charitable status.

African Governments

African governments are under tremendous pressure from frustrated citizens to assume responsibility for the health spending that was coming from the U.S. The issue led the agenda at a meeting of the continent’s health ministers at an African Union summit last week.

In the 24 years since the Union adopted what’s called the Abuja Declaration, committing its 42 members to spending 15 percent of their budgets on health, only a couple of states have ever hit that target, and for a year or two at most. Average health spending by African countries is less than half that amount.

In Nigeria, the president convened an emergency cabinet committee to make a plan for the budget shortfall, and Parliament allotted an extra $200 million to the national budget last week. But that extraordinary measure illustrates the scale of what’s been lost: it’s less than half of the $512 million that the U.S. gave Nigeria for health care in 2023.

Nigeria’s health minister, Dr. Muhammad Pate, said that nearly 28,000 health care workers in the country had been paid in whole or part by U.S.A.I.D., which also covered three-quarters of the bill for drugs and test kits for the 1.3 million Nigerians who live with H.I.V.

Nigeria will quickly need to find new ways of operating, he said, including boosting manufacturing of some of those items domestically. “It may not be as fancy, but at least it will serve,” Dr. Pate said.

He also predicted that the end of U.S. aid would accelerate what he called a “realignment” in Africa. “The world has shifted in the last 20 years,” he said. “So we have other actors: We have China, India, Brazil, Mexico and others.”

Deisy Ventura, a professor of global health ethics at the University of São Paulo, said the change could open opportunities for other countries to exert newfound influence.

“The retreat of the United States may open space for new leaders now,” she said. “It’s important for us in the global south to imagine an international coordination of emergency preparedness and response without the United States.”

Berry Wang contributed reporting from Hong Kong.

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Health

ChatGPT could miss your serious medical emergency, new study suggests

Published

7 hours ago

March 2, 2026

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ChatGPT could miss your serious medical emergency, new study suggests

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This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

Artificial intelligence has been touted as a boon to healthcare, but a new study has revealed its potential shortcomings when it comes to giving medical advice.

In January, OpenAI launched ChatGPT Health, the medical-focused version of the popular chatbot tool.

The company introduced the tool as “a dedicated experience that securely brings your health information and ChatGPT’s intelligence together, to help you feel more informed, prepared and confident navigating your health.”

But researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have found that the tool failed to recommend emergency care for a “significant number” of serious medical cases.

The study, published in the journal Nature Medicine on Feb. 23, aimed to explore how ChatGPT Health — which is reported to have about 40 million users daily — handles situations where people are asking whether to seek emergency care.

Artificial intelligence has been touted as a boon to healthcare, but a new study has revealed its potential shortcomings when it comes to giving medical advice. (iStock)

“Right now, no independent body evaluates these products before they reach the public,” lead author Ashwin Ramaswamy, M.D., instructor of urology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, told Fox News Digital.

“We wouldn’t accept that for a medication or a medical device, and we shouldn’t accept it for a product that tens of millions of people are using to make health decisions.”

Emergency scenarios

The team created 60 clinical scenarios across 21 medical specialties, ranging from minor conditions to true medical emergencies.

Three independent physicians then assigned an appropriate level of urgency for each case, based on published clinical practice guidelines in 56 medical societies.

WOMAN SAYS CHATGPT SAVED HER LIFE BY HELPING DETECT CANCER, WHICH DOCTORS MISSED

The researchers conducted 960 interactions with ChatGPT Health to see how the tool responded, taking into account gender, race, barriers to care and “social dynamics.”

While “clear-cut emergencies” — such as stroke or severe allergy — were generally handled well, the researchers found that the tool “under-triaged” many urgent medical issues.

The team created 60 clinical scenarios across 21 medical specialties, ranging from minor conditions to true medical emergencies. (iStock)

For example, in one asthma scenario, the system acknowledged that the patient was showing early signs of respiratory failure — but still recommended waiting instead of seeking emergency care.

“ChatGPT Health performs well in medium-severity cases, but fails at both ends of the spectrum — the cases where getting it right matters most,” Ramaswamy told Fox News Digital. “It under-triaged over half of genuine emergencies and over-triaged roughly two-thirds of mild cases that clinical guidelines say should be managed at home.”

PARENTS FILE LAWSUIT ALLEGING CHATGPT HELPED THEIR TEENAGE SON PLAN SUICIDE

Under-triage can be life-threatening, the doctor noted, while over-triage can overwhelm emergency departments and delay care for those in real need.

Researchers also identified inconsistencies in suicide risk alerts. In some cases, it directed users to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline in lower-risk scenarios, and in others, it failed to offer that recommendation even when a person discussed suicidal ideations.

“ChatGPT Health performs well in medium-severity cases, but fails at both ends of the spectrum.”

“The suicide guardrail failure was the most alarming,” study co-author Girish N. Nadkarni, M.D., chief AI officer of the Mount Sinai Health System, told Fox News Digital.

ChatGPT Health is designed to show a crisis intervention banner when someone describes thoughts of self-harm, the researcher noted.

OpenAI launched ChatGPT Health, the medical-focused version of the popular chatbot tool, in January 2026. (Gabby Jones/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“We tested it with a 27-year-old patient who said he’d been thinking about taking a lot of pills,” Nadkarni said. “When he described his symptoms alone, the banner appeared 100% of the time. Then we added normal lab results — same patient, same words, same severity — and the banner vanished.”

“A safety feature that works perfectly in one context and completely fails in a nearly identical context … is a fundamental safety problem.”

CHATGPT HEALTH PROMISES PRIVACY FOR HEALTH CONVERSATIONS

The researchers were also surprised by the social influence aspect.

“When a family member in the scenario said ‘it’s nothing serious’ — which happens all the time in real life — the system became nearly 12 times more likely to downplay the patient’s symptoms,” Nadkarni said. “Everyone has a spouse or parent who tells them they’re overreacting. The AI shouldn’t be agreeing with them during a potential emergency.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Open AI, creator of ChatGPT, requesting comment.

Physicians react

Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst, called the new study “important.”

“It underlines the principle that while large language models can triage clear-cut emergencies, they have much more trouble with nuanced situations,” Siegel, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital.

ChatGPT and other LLMs can be helpful tools, a doctor said, but they “should not be used to give medical direction.” (iStock)

“This is where doctors and clinical judgment come in — knowing the nuances of a patient’s history and how they report symptoms and their approach to health.”

ChatGPT and other LLMs can be helpful tools, Siegel said, but they “should not be used to give medical direction.”

“Machine learning and continued input of data can help, but will never compensate for the essential problem – human judgment is needed to decide whether something is a true emergency or not.”

BREAKTHROUGH BLOOD TEST COULD SPOT DOZENS OF CANCERS BEFORE SYMPTOMS APPEAR

Dr. Harvey Castro, an emergency physician and AI expert in Texas, echoed the importance of the study, calling it “exactly the kind of independent safety evaluation we need.”

“Innovation moves fast. Oversight has to move just as fast,” Castro, who also did not work on the study, told Fox News Digital. “In healthcare, the most dangerous mistakes happen at the extremes, when something looks mild but is actually catastrophic. That’s where clinical judgment matters most, and where AI must be stress-tested.”

Study limitations

The researchers acknowledged some potential limitations in the study design.

“We used physician-written clinical scenarios rather than real patient conversations, and we tested at a single point in time — these systems update frequently, so performance may change,” Ramaswamy told Fox News Digital.

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Additionally, most of the missed emergencies happened in situations where the danger depended on how the condition was changing over time. It’s not clear whether the same problem would happen with acute medical emergencies.

Because the system had to choose just one fixed urgency category, the test may not reflect the more nuanced advice it might give in a back-and-forth conversation, the researchers noted.

ChatGPT Health is designed to show a crisis intervention banner when someone describes thoughts of self-harm. (iStock)

Also, the study wasn’t large enough to confidently detect small differences in how recommendations might vary by race or gender.

“We need continuous auditing, not one-time studies,” Castro noted. “These systems update frequently, so evaluation must be ongoing.”

‘Don’t wait’

The researchers emphasized the importance of seeking immediate care for serious issues.

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“If something feels seriously wrong — chest pain, difficulty breathing, a severe allergic reaction, thoughts of self-harm — go to the emergency department or call 988,” Ramaswamy advised. “Don’t wait for an AI to tell you it’s OK.”

The researchers noted that they support the use of AI to improve healthcare access, and that they didn’t conduct the study to “tear down the technology.”

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“These tools can be genuinely useful for the right things — understanding a diagnosis you’ve already received, looking up what your medications do and their side effects, or getting answers to questions that didn’t get fully addressed in a short doctor’s visit,” Ramaswamy said.

“That’s a very different use case from deciding whether you need emergency care. Treat them as a complement to your doctor, not a replacement.”

“This study doesn’t mean we abandon AI in healthcare.”

Castro agreed that the benefits of AI health tools should be weighed against the risks.

“AI health tools can increase access, reduce unnecessary visits and empower patients with information,” he said. “They are not inherently unsafe, but they are not yet substitutes for clinical judgment.”

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“This study doesn’t mean we abandon AI in healthcare,” he went on. “It means we mature it. Independent testing and stronger guardrails will determine whether AI becomes a safety net or a liability.”

Melissa Rudy is senior health editor and a member of the lifestyle team at Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to melissa.rudy@fox.com.

Health

Diabetes surge among Americans could be driven by ‘healthy’ breakfasts, doctor warns

Published

19 hours ago

March 1, 2026

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Diabetes surge among Americans could be driven by ‘healthy’ breakfasts, doctor warns

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Americans consume foods every day that are marketed as “healthy,” when they could be quietly destroying their health, one doctor warns.

Dr. Mark Hyman, physician and co-founder of Function Health in California, says that much of America’s daily diet is filled with unhealthy ingredients.

“The amount of refined starches and sugars that are everywhere is just staggering to me, given what we know about how harmful they are,” he shared in an interview with Fox News Digital. “I don’t think people really understand.”

Hyman, author of the new book “Food Fix Uncensored,” said he’s “astounded” by what people are eating, especially for breakfast.

“People just eat sugar for breakfast,” he said. “They have muffins, they have bagels, they have croissants, they have sugar-sweetened coffees and teas.”

Dr. Mark Hyman is the author of the new book “Food Fix Uncensored.” (Function Health; Little, Brown Spark)

In addition to the traditionally sweet options for breakfast, some cereal brands and breakfast staples have adopted new “protein-packed” menu items and products, following health trends that encourage eating more protein.

“Highly processed food is not food.”

“Now, we’re seeing this halo of protein in certain things,” Hyman said, mentioning that many protein smoothies are “full of sugar.”

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The doctor also noted that some popular cereals are now marketed as having protein in them. “My joke is, if it has a health claim on the label, it’s definitely bad for you,” he said.

Instead of starting the day with a “quick fix” or processed food, Hyman suggests choosing whole sources of protein and fat for breakfast, adding that “if there’s a little carbohydrate in there, it’s fine.”

More products marketed as “high protein” have cropped up on supermarket shelves. (iStock)

For his own breakfast, Hyman said he has a protein shake with whey protein, avocado and frozen berries. Eggs and avocados are also a great protein-and-fat combo option, he added.

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“It’s not that complicated — people need to just think about their breakfast not being dessert,” he said. “No wonder we’re in this cycle of obesity and diabetes. One in three teenage kids now has type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes. That’s just criminal.”

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Instead of counting calories and being in a caloric deficit as a way to lose weight and stay healthy, Hyman instead suggests focusing on how certain foods make you feel and how they impact your health.

“When you look at the way in which different types of calories affect your biology, you can just choose what you’re eating, and then you don’t have to worry about how much,” he told Fox News Digital.

In addition to the traditionally sweet options for breakfast, some cereal brands and breakfast staples have adopted new “protein-packed” menu items and products. (iStock)

“For example, if you eat a diet that doesn’t cause your insulin to spike — which is low in starch and sugar, higher in protein and fat — you won’t develop those swings in blood sugar, you won’t develop the spikes in insulin, you won’t deposit hungry fat … You will break that cycle.”

People are more likely to “self-regulate when they eat real food” instead of processed foods, which “bypasses the normal mechanisms of satiety, fullness and brain chemistry,” according to Hyman.

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“Ultraprocessed food and junk food or highly processed food is not food,” he said. “It doesn’t support the health and well-being of an organism. It doesn’t do that. It does the opposite.”

Angelica Stabile is a lifestyle reporter for Fox News Digital.

Health

Scientists make startling discovery when examining prostate cancer tissue

Published

1 day ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Scientists make startling discovery when examining prostate cancer tissue

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Small fragments of plastic were found in the tumors of most prostate cancer patients, according to a new study from NYU Langone Health.

In past studies, microplastics have been found in almost every human organ and in bodily fluids, but their impact on human health still isn’t fully understood.

The researchers analyzed tissue samples from 10 patients with prostate cancer who underwent surgery to remove the entire organ.

Using visuals of both benign samples and tumor samples, as well as specialized equipment, the scientists identified plastic particles in 90% of the tumor samples and 70% of benign tissue samples, according to the study press release.

In past studies, microplastics were found in almost every single human organ along with bodily fluids, even the placenta. (iStock)

The cancerous tissue contained on average more than double the amount of plastic as healthy prostate tissue samples, the study found. This equates to about 40 micrograms of plastic per gram of tissue compared to 16 micrograms.

Researchers avoided contaminating the samples with other plastics by substituting standard tools with those made of aluminum, cotton and other non-plastic material, the release noted.

NIGHTLY BATHROOM HABIT WAS MISSED SIGN OF COMMON MEN’S CANCER: ‘I DIDN’T KNOW’

The scientists say this is the first direct evidence linking microplastics to prostate cancer.

“By uncovering yet another potential health concern posed by plastic, our findings highlight the need for stricter regulatory measures to limit the public’s exposure to these substances, which are everywhere in the environment,” said senior study author Vittorio Albergamo, assistant professor in the department of pediatrics at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, in the release.

The study findings were presented during the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s Genitourinary Cancers Symposium in San Francisco on Feb. 26.

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“What is most striking is not that microplastics were detected, but that they were found embedded within tumor tissue itself,” Dr. David Sidransky, oncologist and medical advisor at SpotitEarly, a startup that offers an at-home breath-based test to detect early-stage cancer, told Fox News Digital.

“While complete avoidance is unrealistic, people can take practical steps to reduce exposure.”

“We already know microplastics are present in water, air, blood and even placental tissue. Their detection in prostate tumors suggests systemic distribution and long-term bioaccumulation,” added Maryland-based Sidransky, who was not involved in the study.

Study limitations

Albergamo cautioned that a larger sample is needed to confirm the findings. Additionally, Sidransky noted that the presence of microplastics alone does not prove they cause cancer.

“Tumors can act as ‘biologic sinks,’ meaning they may accumulate circulating particles simply because of altered vasculature and permeability,” he said.

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A key unanswered question, according to the doctor, is whether microplastics are biologically active in ways that “promote DNA damage, immune modulation or chronic inflammation within the prostate.”

About one in eight men in the U.S. will be diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point in their lifetime, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The most actionable step men can take is appropriate screening and early detection, according to doctors. (iStock)

For those concerned about microplastics, Sidransky offered some insights.

“I believe the appropriate response is curiosity, not panic, and a commitment to understand more,” he said.

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“While complete avoidance is unrealistic, people can take practical steps to reduce exposure, such as minimizing heating food in plastic containers, reducing bottled water consumption when possible, and favoring glass or stainless steel alternatives.”

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The most actionable step men can take, however, is getting appropriate screenings to help ensure early detection, according to the doctor. Screening discussions should be individualized based on age, family history and other risk factors.

Khloe Quill is a lifestyle production assistant with Fox News Digital. She and the lifestyle team cover a range of story topics including food and drink, travel, and health.