Additional Context: Below are quotes that express an erosion of trust and reactions regarding the abrupt departure of U.S. support in global health initiatives:

“...see it as though it is a scheme…. [That] they have been given the [ARV] medication, [and] that at some point, when they are already dependent [on ART], they stop...getting the medications and die.” — Peer counselor, Tanzania

“...many of them [the clients]...have suspicions that the U.S. is targeting Africans…. [That] they are planning to reduce the population of Africans…. They made the medications, so that we can take them for a period of time, then they stop them and put us in a difficult position.” — Peer navigator, 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. As part of this research, multiple interviewees expressed fears of a “dark” future with increased costs to access care, a resurgence of unproven remedies, and exacerbated stigma.

Source: Physicians for Human Rights (PHR)