Trump admin to end funding for childhood vaccines in world's poorest countries

NEW YORK, Mar 27 (Reuters/AFP): President Donald Trump's administration plans to end US financial support for Gavi, an organisation that helps buy vaccines for children in developing countries, and will also scale back efforts to combat malaria, a document reviewed by Reuters showed.

The administration will continue to fund some grants that pay for drugs that treat HIV and tuberculosis and provide food aid to nations where civil wars and natural disasters are occurring, the document - first reported by the New York Times - showed.

US funding cut for Gavi vaccines

could cause 'over million deaths'

The Gavi vaccine alliance's chief said on Thursday that any cut in US funding risks causing more than a million deaths, following a report that Washington is set to back out.

The decision was included in a 281-page spreadsheet that the severely downsized United States Agency for International Development (USAID) sent to Congress on Monday night.

The document details which grants the agency intends to continue and which it will terminate, according to The New York Times, which obtained a copy.

"We have not received a termination notice from the US government and are engaging with the White House and Congress with a view to securing $300 million approved by Congress for our 2025 activities and longer-term funding for Gavi," the global vaccine organisation's chief executive Sania Nishtar told AFP by email.