Cuts to USAID funding have created immense uncertainty for vulnerable populations and some individuals report that they may be pushed into what they perceived as employment that could negatively impact their health, such as sex work.
Date: 8/25
Region: Africa
Country: Tanzania
Topic: Gender Equality & Inclusion
Policy Lens: Global Health Security, Moral Leadership
Additional Context: “I used to depend on the funding [for LGBTQIA+ initiatives] and now I don’t get money anymore, there are no jobs or work opportunities. So, what is bad...the worst, is that I’ll have to join groups for sex work and this will expose me to more infections like TB….” — Transgender woman living with HIV, Tanzania
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)

