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AVAC Advocates' Network Logo February 6, 2026
Global Health Watch is a weekly newsletter breaking down critical developments in US policies and their impact on global health. Tailored for our partners in the US and around the world, this resource offers a concise analysis of the week’s events, supporting advocates to respond to threats, challenges and opportunities in this critical period of change in global health.
This week a $50 billion US foreign affairs spending bill was signed into law, averting severe proposed cuts; a new modelling analysis projects millions of additional preventable deaths by 2030 if global aid cuts continue; and the financial crises facing the UN and WHO continue. We are also following plans to transition or close the Oregon National Primate Research Center, a leading research institution that has contributed enormously in biomedical and HIV research.
** US Signs Foreign Affairs Spending Bill Amid Ongoing Uncertainty
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The US Congress passed the $50 billion foreign affairs spending bill and the President signed it into law Tuesday, ending a brief government shut-down. The appropriations bill restores billions in foreign assistance, along with companion bills that restore critical support for biomedical research at the NIH and domestic HIV programs, that had been at risk of deep proposed cuts, though it still represents a reduction from previous years and questions remain about how fully the administration will implement the funding and priorities laid out by lawmakers.
IMPLICATIONS: While this bill averts the most severe proposed cuts and sends a strong signal for continued engagement by Congress, the reduced funding level and uncertainty of whether global health and humanitarian programs will receive the funding Congress appropriated leave many reluctant to celebrate. Coordinated advocacy and sustained Congressional oversight will be needed to ensure all appropriated funds are obligated and spent.
READ:
* US Congress passes $50 billion foreign affairs bill ([link removed]) —Devex
* UPDATE: Final Passage of FY26 Spending Package Protects Funding for Domestic & Global HIV Programs after Hard Won Fight, Concerns about Funding for DHS Persist ([link removed]) —Save HIV Funding
* Devex Newswire: Foreign affairs spending bill becomes law after shutdown ([link removed]) —Devex
** New Modelling Quantifies the Impact of Aid Cuts
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A new modelling analysis ([link removed](26)00008-2/fulltext) published in The Lancet Global Health finds that ongoing cuts to official development assistance, particularly from long-time donors like the US, UK and Germany, could lead to between 9.4 million and 22.6 million additional deaths by 2030 across 93 low- and middle-income countries. This includes more than 5 million children under age five.
IMPLICATIONS: This analysis reinforces the need to sustain strategic investments now to avoid deaths and setbacks on all fronts, from HIV to maternal and child health to chronic diseases.
READ:
* Impact of two decades of humanitarian and development assistance and the projected mortality consequences of current defunding to 2030: retrospective evaluation and forecasting analysis ([link removed](26)00008-2/fulltext) —The Lancet Global Health
* Global aid cuts could lead to 9.4 million deaths by 2030, study projects ([link removed]) —Washington Post
* Aid cuts could cause 22m avoidable deaths by 2030, study finds ([link removed]) —The Guardian
** UN and WHO Face Deepening Financial Crisis
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Global health and humanitarian institutions are facing an escalating financial and political crisis. UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the United Nations risks “imminent financial collapse” if member states, specifically the US, do not pay their dues on time, or fail to agree to revise the financial rules, which require the UN to repay governments hundreds of millions of dollars in credits for programs, even ones that were never implemented. At the same time, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched its 2026 emergency appeal amid its biggest financial decline in a decade and while the US withdrawals and other countries question their engagement.
IMPLICATIONS: While WHO and the UN pursue reforms toward more sustainable and flexible financing, failure by member states to stabilize funding and modernize governance could strip capacity from global institutions at a moment when they are needed most with major implications for health security, equity, and trust in the global response system.
READ:
* U.S. retreat from WHO harms global health and the HIV response ([link removed]) —Positively Aware
* US funding pledge insufficient to avert UN financial woes ([link removed]) —Devex
* Global health systems ‘at risk’ as funding cuts bite, warns WHO ([link removed]) —UN News
* Building healthy bridges towards peace: WHO launches $1 billion appeal ([link removed]) —UN News
* Days After US Leaves WHO, Israel Warns It Faces Pressure To Withdraw ([link removed]) —Health Policy Watch
* What kind of leader does WHO need next? ([link removed]) —Devex
** NIH to Transition Primate Research Center Amid Broader Shift Away from Animal Testing
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In the last week, NIH Director, Jay Bhattacharya, confirmed plans to transition the Oregon National Primate Research Center at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) into an animal sanctuary. This is the first of possibly seven of the NIH’s National Primate Research Centers to close or transition and is part of a broader national push to reduce animal testing. The NIH said last year it would spend $87 million to develop a standardized alternative to animal testing. OHSU’s board of directors will meet Monday to consider negotiations with the NIH. They previously estimated
([link removed]) it would cost $241 million over eight years to close.
IMPLICATIONS: This move reflects a broader pattern of policy decisions that risk eroding the foundational research systems underpinning early-stage biomedical science, including HIV prevention, treatment, and cure research. While developing alternatives to animal research is important, rapidly dismantling animal research—particularly nonhuman primate capacity at these centers and at the CDC ([link removed]) —without validated replacements could weaken the early-stage pipeline that has been critical to breakthroughs such as HIV PrEP, PEP, long-acting prevention, vaccine and cure research and development.
READ:
* NIH looks to turn primate research center into a sanctuary ([link removed]) —Politico
* As U.S. officials move to reduce animal testing in research, focus may shift to restrictions on imports ([link removed]) —STAT
What We're Reading
• ‘Biblical Diseases’ Could Resurge in Africa, Health Officials Fear ([link removed]) —New York Times
• What Will HIV Funding Look Like in 2026? ([link removed]) —Bhekisisa
•
By-disease investment trends for the first 15 American global health agreements ([link removed]) —To End a Plague...Again Substack
• Thanks, but no thanks ([link removed]) —The Forsaken Substack
• Gates doubles down on goals in a world weighed down by crisis, CEO says ([link removed]) —Devex
• Q&A: How Can Humanitarians Navigate The New Expanded Global Gag Rule? ([link removed]) —Health Policy Watch
• Good health is the world’s best investment – and the key to economic resilience ([link removed]) —Gavi
• Whose ethics govern global health research? ([link removed]) —Nature Medicine
• FDA Commissioner Marty Makary tries to soothe staff concerns over voucher program ([link removed]) —STAT
• We asked whether principal investigators have plans in place for how research can continue without them ([link removed]) —STAT
• The Only Thing That Will Turn Measles Back ([link removed]) —The Atlantic
• Trump Administration to Make It Easier to Fire 50,000 Federal Workers ([link removed]) —Wall Street Journal
• Evaluation of an Artificial Intelligence Conversational Chatbot to Enhance HIV Preexposure Prophylaxis Uptake: Development and Usability Internal Testing ([link removed]) —Journal of Medical Internet Research
• A Year of Disruption: 5 Resources to Understand Foreign Aid Cuts ([link removed]) —Partners in Health
• NIH rolls back red tape on some experiments — spurring excitement and concern ([link removed]) —Nature
• Conflicts and Vaccine Hesitancy Undermine Global Immunization Efforts ([link removed]) —Health Policy Watch
** New Issue of PxWire
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AVAC’s latest issue of PxWire shows reduced initiations of oral PrEP following the US foreign aid freeze; the accelerated rollout of injectable lenacapavir (LEN) for PrEP; and what’s next in the HIV vaccine R&D pipeline.
read Now ([link removed])
In solidarity,
AVAC
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AVAC Global Advocacy for HIV Prevention
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