By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department announced on Saturday that the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which is considered the world’s primary HIV initiative, has been granted a waiver for essential humanitarian aid during a 90-day halt in foreign assistance.
Shortly after assuming office on January 20, President Donald Trump directed a temporary pause on foreign aid to conduct a thorough review to ensure alignment with his “America First” foreign policy agenda. As the largest aid contributor globally, the United States initiated this pause.
Initially, Secretary of State Marco Rubio granted a waiver for emergency food aid, followed by another waiver on Tuesday encompassing provisions for life-saving medicine, medical services, food, shelter, and subsistence aid. However, the vague nature of Trump’s directive and subsequent waivers have left aid organizations uncertain about the continuation of their work.
In response to this uncertainty, the State Department’s Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy issued a memorandum on Saturday, obtained by Reuters, to clarify that PEPFAR falls under the waiver issued on January 28. The memo delineates the permissible activities, including life-saving HIV care and treatment services such as testing, counseling, prevention and treatment of infections like tuberculosis (TB), laboratory services, and procurement and supply chain management for essential commodities and medications. Additionally, it permits services for preventing mother-to-child transmission.
The memo emphasized that any activities not explicitly outlined in the guidance must not resume without explicit approval.
PEPFAR directly supports over 20 million individuals living with HIV, constituting two-thirds of the global population receiving treatment for the disease.
During the foreign aid pause under Trump, all payments by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) ceased on Tuesday, marking the first such halt since the fiscal year began on October 1, as indicated by U.S. Treasury data. Last Monday, USAID disbursed $8 million, and the total disbursed in the previous week amounted to $545 million.
In a significant potential restructuring of U.S. foreign aid distribution, sources familiar with the discussions revealed on Friday that the Trump administration plans to diminish the autonomy of a streamlined USAID by placing it under the control of the State Department. This proposed overhaul could reshape how Washington allocates American foreign aid.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal, writing by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
