The Trump administration’s decision to halt American foreign aid is sending shockwaves through Manitoba’s non-profit sector, with humanitarian workers warning that global initiatives are now at risk.
Prof. Julie Lajoie of the University of Manitoba said the billion-dollar freeze on humanitarian assistance threatens a decades-long initiative led by Manitoba researchers focused on preventing and treating HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases in Kenya.
“We got told yesterday that we were no longer able to operate our clinics, which means that by Monday [they] have to be shut down,” Lajoie told Information Radio host Marcy Markusa on Thursday.
“We are right now trying to see if there’s a way to bypass USAID and get funding through another organization … but we are in an emergency crisis.”
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is facing mass layoffs and leadership dismissals as President Donald Trump dismantles the agency responsible for delivering humanitarian aid.
Demonstrators and lawmakers rallied on Capitol Hill Wednesday, protesting against Trump and his ally Elon Musk for their role in defunding USAID. Tech billionaire Musk, who oversees the administration’s government efficiency agency, called USAID a “criminal organization” on his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, adding, “It’s time for it to die.”
The University of Manitoba program receives funding from a U.S. AIDS relief initiative, which the State Department claims has saved 26 million lives across 55 countries.
Lajoie, who holds the Francis A. Plummer Professorship in Global Infectious Diseases, warned that shutting down the program could have deadly consequences.
“I have a collaborator. She’s a sex worker.… She has been living with HIV for 20 years,” Lajoie said.
“She’s telling me, ‘I have six pills left at home. Next week … what’s going to happen to me?’ And it’s [a] heartbreaking question that we don’t know how to address.”
Source: Swifteradio.com
