US ‘undermining global health’ by threatening to strip funding from aid projects that do not fit its political agenda | Global development

The Trump administration plans to export its “war on wokeness” by forcing foreign governments, non-governmental organizations and international bodies to abandon their work on diversity, equity and inclusion or risk being deprived of US funding.

The plans have been called an attack on the sovereignty of other nations and one health organization has warned of “unimaginable effects”, including an increase in deaths and violence, following the closure of safe clinics for vulnerable groups.

Under the Mexico City Policy, also known as the “global gag rule,” foreign health organizations that provide abortion information, referrals or services are already denied U.S. funds, but the policy will now be extended to those deemed to promote what is loosely called “gender ideology” or any initiative aimed at promoting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

Governments and major multilateral organizations such as UN agencies will likely be subject to the policy for the first time and face “very difficult choices” about whether to stick with anti-discrimination policies and programs or risk losing a major funding source, global health experts said.

Although U.S. officials have not yet clarified what they mean by DEI initiatives, it is possible that these will include broad swaths of health care and support for people in crisis.

Young women and adolescent girls in Africa account for a disproportionate number of new HIV infections, but programs that specifically support them could fall under DEI. Vaccination programs that rely specifically on training female workers, who can go into women’s homes to provide care where men cannot, could collapse.

Washington is currently negotiating new bilateral deals with dozens of countries, and activists have urged governments to reject any U.S. funding with these conditions.

The global gag rule has been implemented under every Republican president since Reagan. This means that any foreign organization receiving U.S. global health funding must certify that neither it, nor any other NGO it works with, promotes or provides abortion, even with money from other donors.

The Trump administration reportedly intends to expand its scope so that it also covers “gender ideology and activities related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

Although it has not yet been officially announced by the US State Department, reports suggest that the expanded rule would also apply for the first time to US-based NGOs, foreign governments, the UN and multilateral organizations. as well as all non-military foreign aid.

Contacted for confirmation, a senior State Department official said: “The State Department continues to advance President Trump’s America First foreign policy.

“The department will soon take additional steps to close the loopholes that allowed taxpayer funding to promote abortion in previous iterations of the Mexico City Policy and expand the scope of the policy to ensure that every cent of U.S. foreign assistance prioritizes American values, not the woke agenda,” the official said.

Beth Schlachter, MSI’s senior director of U.S. external relations, called the reports “deeply concerning.”

She said: “Such a move, which goes well beyond previous restrictions, would constitute an insidious encroachment on sovereignty, forcing governments to change their own laws and policies in exchange for US funding, despite repeated assertions of respect for national autonomy.

“This risks causing real human suffering, harming global health and destabilizing decades of partnerships and progress,” she said.

Shortly after taking office, Trump pledged to “end all diversity, equity, and inclusion programs across the federal government.” The administration has also attacked DEI policies at foreign companies with contracts with the U.S. government, in academia and scientific research, and at multilateral organizations such as UNICEF.

Rajat Khosla, director of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, said interventions had already created a “chilling effect” and that an expanded global gag rule would have “unimaginable effects.”

The America First global health strategy released by the U.S. State Department in September called for creating more bilateral agreements with aid-receiving countries instead of working through NGOs. Khosla added: “For countries in desperate need of external aid, this would present very difficult choices. »

Beirne Roose-Snyder, senior policy researcher at the Council for Global Equality, said equity initiatives played an important role in the success of health programs globally, which often required “a special intentional effort” to target specific groups, such as LGBTQ+ people.

She stressed that the restrictions were not about “what can be done with U.S. funds” but sought to control what organizations and governments did outside of U.S.-funded work.

Roose-Snyder said the new rules seemed likely to apply even to humanitarian spending. “The administration wants to be able to test ‘ideological purity’ before helping after [a natural disaster, such as] a tsunami,” she said.

She said key questions about the definition of “promotion of gender ideology” and DEI were yet to be answered, urging organizations to wait until they have received official notification before making changes.

Yumnah Hattas, head of gender justice at Frontline Aids, said the expanded plans were “in line with the rise of the transnational anti-rights movement” and would mean “human rights will be violated on a large scale”.

She said the global gag rule had historically forced abortions underground and led to women’s deaths. The expansion could potentially affect areas such as “access to contraception, HIV prevention and gender-based violence services”, she said, predicting an increase in pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections and HIV, as well as domestic violence.

Hattas said: “We need to go to governments and say, ‘refuse the American government.’ financing, find the funds within your own government.

Such a position was “complicated, difficult and painful,” she acknowledged, but added: “If you ignore the U.S. government, then it no longer matters. Then the global impact of the global gag rule no longer exists because it has been rejected by the world.”