Additional Context: As a result, supplies of ART and other essential commodities became unpredictable and, in some instances, in dangerously short supply months after the waiver was issued. Primary prevention services for adolescent girls and young women and key populations completely halted. Real and rumored drug shortages profoundly affected clinics regardless of whether they had been issued stop work orders and clients had even begun skipping

doses of ARV medications — which must be taken exactly as prescribed — for fear of running out.

This information was first published in an August 2025 research brief by Physicians for Human Rights entitled "On the Brink of Catastrophe: U.S. Foreign Aid Disruption to HIV Services in Tanzania and Uganda.” This research brief draws on 29 oral history interviews, including five focus groups, with doctors, nurses, peer counselors, people living with HIV, key population members, and non-governmental organization staff conducted in Tanzania and Uganda in April 2025. To document the impacts of the U.S. foreign aid freeze and HIV funding cuts, the multidisciplinary study team used purposive and snowball sampling in Moshi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Fort Portal, Kampala, Kasese, and Tororo, Uganda. Participants had explicit control over how personal information was shared, with consent and demographic forms tailored to individual preferences. 

Source: Physicians for Human Rights (PHR)