Health
Health Programs Shutter Around the World After Trump Pauses Foreign Aid
Lifesaving health initiatives and medical research projects have shut down around the world in response to the Trump administration’s 90-day pause on foreign aid and stop-work orders.
In Uganda, the National Malaria Control Program has suspended spraying insecticide into village homes and ceased shipments of bed nets for distribution to pregnant women and young children, said Dr. Jimmy Opigo, the program’s director.
Medical supplies, including drugs to stop hemorrhages in pregnant women and rehydration salts that treat life-threatening diarrhea in toddlers, cannot reach villages in Zambia because the trucking companies transporting them were paid through a suspended supply project of the United States Agency for International Development, U.S.A.I.D.
Dozens of clinical trials in South Asia, Africa and Latin America have been suspended. Thousands of people enrolled in the studies have drugs, vaccines and medical devices in their bodies but no longer have access to continuing treatment or to the researchers who were supervising their care.
In interviews, more than 20 researchers and program managers described the upheaval in health systems in countries across the developing world. Most agreed to be interviewed on the condition that their names not be published, fearing that speaking to a reporter would jeopardize any possibility that their projects might be able to reopen.
Many of those interviewed broke down in tears as they described the rapid destruction of decades of work.
The programs that have frozen or folded over the past six days supported frontline care for infectious disease, providing treatments and preventive measures that help avert millions of deaths from AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other diseases. They also presented a compassionate, generous image of the United States in countries where China has increasingly competed for influence.
The State Department and U.S.A.I.D. did not respond to requests for comment.
There will now be no one to take custody of millions of dollars’ worth of supplies for vital oxygen systems, purchased for programs funded by U.S.A.I.D. that support health clinics in some of the world’s poorest countries. The shipments, now in transit, are scheduled to reach ports in the coming days, but employees of those programs have been ordered to stop work.
On Tuesday night, Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued an exemption to the funding freeze for “lifesaving humanitarian assistance,” including what a State Department memo called “core lifesaving medicine.” However, shuttered H.I.V. and tuberculosis treatment programs have been told by their contacts at U.S.A.I.D. that they cannot resume work until they receive written instruction that the waiver applies specifically to them.
Also on Tuesday, a federal judge blocked the freeze until Feb. 3. But in practice, most U.S.A.I.D. country offices and programs are proceeding as if the freeze remains in place.
They have been unable to obtain clarification on whether and when their work can continue because their assigned contacts at U.S.A.I.D. have either been fired or furloughed, or are under strict instructions to not talk to anyone.
Despite the court order, thousands of people have already lost their jobs as a result of the freeze. About 500 U.S.-based employees of U.S.A.I.D. were fired. In countries from India to Zimbabwe, staff members for health projects were immediately fired. An organization called the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, which does research on a top killer of children, laid off more than 1,000 employees this week.
If the waiver announced by Mr. Rubio does not apply to their work — as is likely because it is expected to exempt only a narrow scope of activities — many nonprofit groups will not have enough funds to pay their employees or maintain supplies. Already, organizations that rely on U.S.A.I.D. funds have not been able access any money, even for reimbursement of expenses already incurred.
Two-thirds of the staff of the President’s Malaria Initiative, an organization founded by former President George W. Bush that is the largest donor to anti-malaria programs and research worldwide, have been fired. Those employees were contract staff members, because the agency had longtime hiring freezes for permanent positions, and included some of the most senior and respected scientists working on malaria control in the world.
While the interruption of H.I.V. treatment has prompted an outcry, the suspension of malaria work also immediately jeopardizes lives, said a scientist who was a senior staff member at the President’s Malaria Initiative for a decade and was fired on Tuesday.
Malaria interventions in Africa are carefully planned around rainy seasons, the time of which varies by region. Houses are sprayed with insecticide, and children are treated with an antimalarial medication during peak malaria transmission times.
“You could open the funding floodgates again tomorrow and you will still have children dying months from now because of this pause,” the scientist said.
More than 50 million children received preventative drugs before the rainy season last year.
The delivery of rapid tests and malaria drugs into Myanmar, where cases of malaria increased nearly tenfold to 850,000 in 2023 (the most recent figures available) from 78,000 in 2019, has been frozen. Some organizations now have no workers left to distribute the supplies even if they were to arrive.
In some parts of the country, more than 40 percent of cases are of a type of malaria that is often deadly in children under the age of 5. Malaria drugs would seem to qualify under the stipulation of “lifesaving humanitarian assistance, including essential medicines” included in the waiver, but in the absence of certainty, no one has been bold enough to try to free the drugs now stuck at the Thai border.
Some 2.4 million anti-malaria bed nets are sitting in production facilities in Asia, manufactured to fulfill U.S.-funded orders and bound for countries across sub-Saharan Africa. Those contracts are now frozen, because the U.S.A.I.D. subcontractor that bought them is not allowed to talk to the manufacturer under the terms of the freeze. Contracts for eight million more nets are now in limbo, an executive with the manufacturer said.
U.S.A.I.D.’s largest project is called the global health supply chain, an effort to streamline procurement of supplies for H.I.V., malaria, maternal health and other key areas, to make the system more efficient and save money. It operates in more than 55 countries where, in many cases, it supplies the bulk of key medicines. Now its global web of staff has been ordered to stop work except for essential tasks, like guarding commodities in warehouses.
In Zambia, U.S.A.I.D. supports the bulk distribution of public health products, using the private trucking industry to move medicines from a central supply depot to seven regional hubs, from which they are taken by truck, motorbike and boat to rural health centers. It’s part of the extensive U.S. support of the health system in Zambia, one of the world’s poorest countries, and over time it has been working to build up the supply chain capacity of the government.
Since the stop-work order was issued last Saturday, all of the vehicles transporting health products have been stopped. “They have effectively paralyzed the Zambian public health sector by pulling out so abruptly,” said one consultant who worked with the program. Similar U.S.-funded systems, now frozen, also moved a major share of basic medical supplies in Mozambique, Nigeria, Malawi and Haiti.
In East Africa, medical researchers working on projects to find ways to stop transmission of H.I.V. and develop more effective contraception have found themselves floundering for explanations to give to participants in their clinical trials.
“We have women testing vaginal rings, they already have the rings in them, people who got an injectable for H.I.V. prevention — when you say ‘stop,’ what happens to them?” said an H.I.V. researcher who is an investigator on a number of clinical trials. “We have an ethical obligation to people who volunteer for trials.”
Apoorva Mandavilli contributed reporting.
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Students at the University of Kent in the U.K. are calling for a shutdown in light of an active meningitis outbreak.
The demands follow multiple alerts from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) about the outbreak.
As of March 18, the agency had announced a total of 15 confirmed cases of meningococcal disease, 12 additional potential cases and two deaths in Kent, a county in the southeast of England. The University of Kent is located in Canterbury, a historic city within Kent.
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Meningococcal disease is a serious bacterial infection caused by Neisseria meningitidis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
It can cause two life-threatening conditions: meningitis (infection of the brain and spinal cord lining) and a bloodstream infection called septicemia, which can lead to sepsis, per the above source.
Two people have died amid an outbreak of meningitis at the University of Kent in Canterbury. (Carl Court/Getty Images)
Even with prompt treatment, meningococcal disease can become fatal within hours. Health agencies report a typical fatality rate of about 10% to 15%.
In response to the outbreak, students at the University of Kent launched an online petition calling for campus to be closed.
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“Students at the University of Kent are increasingly concerned about reports of meningitis and sepsis cases affecting members of the campus community,” the petition states, as posted on Change.org. “The confirmation of two deaths, along with reports of hospitalizations, has caused understandable concern among students and staff.”
The petition expressed concern that in-person exams, lectures and other campus activities are continuing amid the outbreak.
As of March 18, health officials had announced a total of 15 confirmed cases of meningococcal disease, 12 additional potential cases and two deaths in Kent, a county in the southeast of England. (Carl Court/Getty Images)
“Many students feel that they are being placed in a difficult position: attend exams and in-person activities during a period of heightened concern or prioritize their health and well-being while risking potential academic consequences,” the petition states. “Students should not feel forced to choose between protecting their well-being and continuing their education.”
“Students deserve to feel safe on campus,” the petition concluded. “We are therefore calling on the University of Kent to consider precautionary steps to prioritize the well-being of students and staff during this situation.
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Preventative antibiotic treatment is being distributed to University of Kent students, according to UKHSA, as well as to those who visited Club Chemistry, a nightclub in Canterbury, between March 5 and March 7.
“A vaccination program has started for students and staff who live in or work in the halls at the University of Kent Canterbury Campus — approximately 5,000 students,” the agency noted.
Fox News Digital reached out to the university requesting comment.
Symptoms of meningococcal disease
Described by the CDC as a “rare but severe illness,” meningococcal disease most commonly causes symptoms of meningitis, including fever, stiff neck, headache, nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light or altered mental status.
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It can also cause meningococcal bloodstream infection, which is marked by fever and chills, vomiting, fatigue, vomiting, cold hands and feet, severe aches and pains, diarrhea, rapid breathing or a dark purple rash, the CDC notes.
Transmission and treatment
Meningitis infections can spread through close contact with someone who has meningococcal disease, “generally, through things like coughing or kissing, but it can also spread by being in the same household or room for extended periods of time with an individual who is infected,” Dr. Barbara Bawer, a primary care physician at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, previously told Fox News Digital.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is contacting 30,000 students and staff of the university to notify them of the outbreak. (Carl Court/Getty Images)
Those who have symptoms of the disease should see their primary care physician immediately, according to the doctor.
As symptoms tend to progress quickly and can be life-threatening, it is essential that the patient receives antibiotics immediately.
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“It can become fatal or dangerous very quickly — within hours — for any individual, especially if antibiotics are not initiated in a timely manner,” Bawer warned. “Even with antibiotics, meningitis can be fatal.”
She added, “This is often due to misdiagnosis, because meningitis can mimic many other illnesses.”
Infection prevention
Most cases of meningococcal disease worldwide are caused by six variations of the Neisseria meningitidis bacteria — A, B, C, W, X and Y.
In the U.S., the most common variations are B, C, W and Y. There are vaccines available to protect against types A, C, W and Y (the MenACWY vaccine) and type B (MenB vaccine), according to the CDC.
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“MenACWY vaccines are routinely recommended for adolescents and for people with other risk factors or underlying medical conditions, including HIV,” the agency previously stated.
“Students should not feel forced to choose between protecting their well-being and continuing their education.”
To reduce risk, Bawer recommends that people get vaccinated with the current meningitis vaccine as recommended by the CDC and avoid being in very closed-in spaces with others as much as possible.
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“If you know of someone who has meningitis in your household or you’ve come in contact with their oral secretions (i.e., you kissed them), then you should get preventative antibiotics,” the doctor told Fox News Digital.
This is even more important for those who are immune-compromised or who are on medications that decrease the immune system, Bawer added.
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The practice of combining cold exposure and breathwork — known as the Wim Hof Method — has gained popularity as a wellness practice, with some research suggesting benefits for stress, energy and mental clarity, though evidence for treating chronic disease remains limited.
And now, a recent study published in the journal Nature appears to support the technique’s potential health benefits.
The research included more than 400 healthy adults averaging 37 years of age, who practiced either the Wim Hof Method (WHM) or mindfulness meditation daily for about one month.
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The WHM practitioners were split into in-person and at-home groups, where one did ice baths and the other took cold showers.
The participants reported their energy, mental clarity, and stress and anxiety levels. The researchers also measured heart rate, breathing and sleep.
Wim Hof, creator of the Wim Hof Method that combines cold exposure and breathwork, is pictured among icebergs on Iceland’s Diamond Beach. (Wim Hof Method)
Participants in the breathwork and cold group had greater improvements in energy, mental clarity and ability to handle stress, benefits that were most noticeable right after their daily practice.
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The study also found that meditation reduced stress early on, but the WHM showed gradual improvements in stress levels over a longer time period. Differences in sleep, cognition and heart health measures were more subtle.
The short 29-day study period could pose a limitation in measuring long-term impacts, the researchers acknowledged.
Wim Hof is pictured meditating in the snow in Switzerland. “I felt that this was going to make a huge difference in people,” he said of his method. (Wim Hof Method)
The participants also knew which group they were placed in, which could have influenced the self-reported results.
“I felt that this was going to make a huge difference in people,” Wim Hof told Fox News Digital. “I had a lot of anecdotal evidence, but that doesn’t make it scientific.”
What is the Wim Hof Method?
The Wim Hof Method is comprised of three pillars: cold, breathing and mindset.
“It is a combination of the three … and when they come together, they reinforce each other and become stronger,” he said. “Use the cold well, and you bring the immune system, the energy system and your cardiovascular system to an optimum [state].”
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Breathing has been shown to lower inflammation, which is the main driver of disease, according to Wim Hof. Research has also shown that a change in mindset can re-circuit the brain to handle stress more efficiently.
Lowering stress levels is crucial to improving health, he noted, as high cortisol (the body’s stress hormone) and inflammation are drivers of chronic disease.
Sunday Swim, a group practicing the Wim Hof Method, does a cold plunge on a Long Island beach. (Sunday Swim)
Lead study author Dr. Jemma King, of the University of Queensland School of Psychology in Australia, said she entered the world’s largest Wim Hof study with a “healthy dose of scientific skepticism.”
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“People are really anxious, people are really burnt out, and the world is very destabilized at the moment,” she told Fox News Digital. “People are increasingly dependent on healthcare systems, and profits keep growing and people keep getting sicker.”
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“We’re glued to screens; we’re reaching for pills every time life feels hard. And so we really wanted to [find out] — is there a better way?”
Sunday Swim founder Brendan Cooke assists participants with breathwork on a Long Island beach. (Sunday Swim)
Although meditation is an important tool for some, an alternative method that involves more activity may be a better option for those with “busy brains,” according to the researcher.
“You’re not sitting there just accepting energy,” she said. “You can actually face it head on, and you can overcome your aversion to the cold, which is very invigorating.”
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“If you choose to do small doses of the right kind of stress, it doesn’t break you down. It actually makes you stronger,” King added.
Scientifically, breathwork can help flush the brain of toxins, clearing mental fog while increasing levels of the beneficial chemicals adrenaline and dopamine, she noted.
Cold exposure may not be safe for everyone, especially those with certain cardiovascular conditions. (iStock)
“We also found something really shocking and unexpected: The people doing the Wim Hof Method became more willing to speak up at work,” King shared. “They were more likely to raise hard issues or have a voice or take interpersonal risks.”
“If you train yourself to step into the cold water every morning, you kind of override that voice that says, ‘Don’t do that,’” she added. “This bravery, this toughness that you train every morning, starts to show up everywhere else in your life.”
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Starting safely
For beginners, Hof recommends simply stepping into a cold shower at home, which activates the cardiovascular system and boosts energy.
“Take the cold shower, go into that breathing, and suddenly you’ll feel an innate power awakening,” he said. “That is the nervous system, and you have control over that.”
Cold exposure may not be safe for everyone, especially those with certain cardiovascular conditions, such as abnormal heart rhythms, heart disease or Raynaud’s syndrome, according to Harvard Health.
Those with underlying conditions should get a physician’s approval before embarking on a cold plunge or another mode of cold exposure therapy, experts advise.
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“[For those who] have conditions, I say start with breathing alone,” Hof recommended. “Breathing trains the nervous system like weightlifting trains the muscles.”
“Know that you are built to have willful control over your health, happiness and strength,” he added.
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A Los Angeles mother of three says she’s lucky to be alive after an uncommon procedure left her cancer-free.
Amy Piccioli, a busy CPA, was just 39 when she visited the ER last year for what she thought was dehydration due to a stomach bug.
Instead, a CT scan revealed a mass in her colon and multiple lesions in her liver, which led to a colorectal cancer diagnosis — despite having “zero signs.”
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“I had no symptoms,” Piccioli told Fox News Digital. “I’m one of those people who’s very diligent about my health and very cognizant about changes in my body. So for this to have happened without any signs or symptoms was just shocking to me.”
Because the cancer had already spread, it was automatically a stage 4 diagnosis.
Amy Piccioli, a Los Angeles mother of three, says she’s lucky to be alive after an uncommon procedure left her cancer-free. (Amy Piccioli)
“I just went numb — I couldn’t believe it,” Piccioli said. “Immediately, you have those feelings of panic and fear.”
In June 2024, Piccioli began undergoing chemotherapy, along with an immunotherapy drug. Just three months later, scans showed that the chemo had shrunk the tumors. Next, she underwent surgery to remove a tumor from her colon.
An unlikely path
After completing the traditional courses of treatment, Piccioli found herself embarking on a path to liver transplantation.
“The cancer was all over my liver,” she shared. “In cases where the cancer is confined to one side of the liver, they can basically cut that portion out … but in my case, a resection was not a possibility because the cancer was everywhere.”
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Although the chemotherapy was successful, she said, “it was always going to be a ‘whack-a-mole’ situation, where I would be on systemic chemo for an extended period of time, new stuff would pop up, and it would just be this cycle over and over and again.”
“The chances of eradicating the cancer entirely from my liver with chemo alone was very slim. In cases like mine, liver transplantation is really the only long-term solution.”
Piccioli (right) is pictured with Dr. Zachary C. Dietch, a transplant surgeon at Northwestern Medicine. (Northwestern Medicine)
Liver transplantation as part of a colorectal cancer treatment is more prevalent in Europe, but not common in the U.S.
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“We just didn’t think it would be an option here,” Piccioli said. “It seemed like something that was going to require a lot of effort to get.”
Her California care team soon discovered, however, that Northwestern Medicine in Chicago offers a liver transplantation program specifically for metastatic colorectal cancer patients.
“I have no evidence of disease currently,” shared Piccioli, pictured on the beach with her husband and three kids. (Amy Piccioli)
“When liver metastasis is noted, our medical oncologists, along with our transplant surgeons begin to make care pathways tailored to the patient,” Satish Nadig, MD, PhD, transplant surgeon and director of the Northwestern Medicine Comprehensive Transplant Center, told Fox News Digital.
The chances of a successful transplant depend largely on how the patient responds to treatment, according to doctors. In “carefully selected” patients, the five-year survival rate can be 60% to 80%.
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“Response to chemotherapy is a critical gatekeeper for liver transplantation in colorectal liver metastases,” Nadig said.
“Demonstrated disease control or response is usually required, as it identifies patients whose tumor biology (less aggressive and not spreading quickly) is favorable enough to justify a transplant.”
“You have to be the captain of your own ship.”
Piccioli, who was in search of a living donor, shared the need with family and friends. A lifetime childhood friend, Lauren Prior, underwent screening and was deemed a match.
The transplant was performed in December 2025, making Piccioli the first person at Northwestern to receive a living donor transplantation for metastatic colon cancer.
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Today, she and the donor are recovering well.
“The first week or two were difficult, but by week four, I was up and around, getting back to doing normal life things,” she said. “About two months out, I started working out again. I’m now three months out and feel completely normal. It’s amazing what the body can do.”
Piccioli, who was in search of a living donor, shared the need with family and friends. A lifetime childhood friend, Lauren Prior (right), underwent screening and was deemed a match. (Amy Piccioli)
Piccioli recently had her first post-transplant blood screening for tumor molecules within the body, and none were detected. “So I have no evidence of disease currently,” she shared.
She will remain in Chicago for ongoing monitoring and screening until the end of March, when she will return home to Los Angeles.
On the lookout
Early-onset colorectal cancer is often “silent,” according to Nadig.
“That’s because screening is absent before age 45 and symptoms (such as slow bleeding) are usually subtle,” he cautioned. Tumors can also grow in hard-to-detect locations, like the right side of the colon, or with biology that “delays obvious warning signs.”
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Although Piccioli experienced no warning signs, she encourages others to pay attention to any changes in the body that may signal cancer.
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“Do the screenings at the recommended ages, follow up and just be diligent about your health,” she advised.
“I think a lot of the reason that I got to Northwestern and was able to receive this transplant was because I was so diligent about calling the doctors, scheduling the appointments … I think that is really the most important thing: You have to be the captain of your own ship.”
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