The distribution of HIV drugs in foreign countries by the U.S. has been paused after President Donald Trump ordered a freeze on foreign aid.

The cuts by the Trump administration affect the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, established by former President George W. Bush. The global health program is credited to have saved more than 25 million lives around the world.

According to reporting by Reuters, the Trump administration ordered contractors and partners who work with the U.S. Agency for Internal Development (USAID) on Tuesday to stop work immediately. In a memo seen by Reuters, the cuts will affect supplies of lifesaving drugs for HIV, malaria and tuberculosis around the globe.

“This is catastrophic,” Atul Gawande, former head of global health at USAID told Reuters. “Donated drug supplies keeping 20 million people living with HIV alive. That stops today.”

The freeze by Trump will make a large impact as the U.S. accounts for 42% of all global aid, according to statistics by the United Nations.

Gawande said that interruptions in the delivery of these drugs will increase the risk of patients getting sick and transmitting the disease to others. He also told Reuters that the notices received by him and other partners would not allow them to distribute these drugs even if they had them in stock.

About 6.5 million orphans and vulnerable children with HIV in 23 countries are slated to be affected by the cuts, according to Gawande.

Trump’s cuts affect other parts of USAID
On his first day in office, Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign assistance for “assessment of programmatic efficiencies and consistency with United States foreign policy.”

According to Reuters, the incoming Trump administration put about 60 senior career officials at USAID on leave. United Nations figures show that in 2023, the U.S. provided $72 billion in assistance, almost half of all humanitarian aid.

The operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have raided the Abuja home of a former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Professor Usman Yusuf, picking him up.

It was learnt that the gun-wielding operatives arrested the professor of h?Haematology-oncology and bone marrow transplantation in his house in the presence of his wife and children at about 4:46pm on Wednesday over a yet-to-be-revealed offence.

Sources familiar with the development confided in our correspondent that Yusuf was driven to an unknown location after he was picked up by the operatives.

Although details of his arrest were not disclosed by the operatives, sources said his arrest might not be unconnected with his activities when he held sway at NHIS.

“The reason for his arrest can’t be made public now because investigations are still ongoing. What I know is that he’s in custody and he will help the detectives in their investigations,” a highly-placed source told Daily Trust Wednesday night.

Yusuf was relieved of his appointment in 2019 by the former President Muhammadu Buhari seven months after he was recommended for dismissal by a fact-finding panel set up by the Federal Ministry of Health over alleged mismanagement of N919m.

When contacted, the spokesman of the EFCC, Dele Oyewale, said he would find out about the development and get back.but he was yet to get back as promised as of when this report was filed.

Daily trust

The 2023 presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has vehemently rejected the bail conditions set by the police, stating that even if President Bola Tinubu were to offer to stand as his bail surety, he would not accept.

Sowore is currently in police custody following his invitation for questioning over allegations of cyberstalking, negligent acts, and intimidation.

The police investigation stems from a viral video in which Sowore confronted officers at a Lagos checkpoint after they stopped his vehicle.

Sowore criticized the bail conditions imposed by the police, which required him to surrender his international passport and present a level 17 civil servant as a surety.

Describing the conditions as “laughable, frivolous, and ridiculous,” he questioned the legitimacy of the police’s authority to impose administrative bail. Sowore argued that the police had no right to impose such terms, especially one demanding a civil servant of a specific rank, calling it a form of corruption and an insult.

He expressed his opposition to participating in what he considered an illegality, stating:

“I cannot in good conscience continue to participate in illegality… the police have no right to grant administrative bail that asks for civil servants to own, first and foremost, N100 million houses, which is a crime… it’s corruption to stand bail for me, who is an employer of labour.”

Sowore emphasized that as a publisher and human rights activist, he has dedicated his life to fighting corruption and would not be insulted by the demands of the police.

He also criticized the requirement to provide a level 17 civil servant—a rank that typically refers to a permanent secretary, politically appointed by the president, and questioned whether such an individual could ethically serve as his surety.

Sowore reflected on his past, recalling that in 1992, as a student leader, he had more influence than Tinubu, who was a senator at the time.

He added that Tunde Egbetokun, the current Lagos State Commissioner of Police, would likely have been a sergeant or junior officer during that period, insinuating that the police officers involved in his case lacked the authority to impose such demands.

The human rights activist, known for his outspokenness, has vowed to reject the bail conditions and continue his fight against impunity and corruption in Nigeria.