Global powers have been slashing their health spending in lower-income countries this year, causing health funding to be at its lowest level in 15 years, a new analysis has found.
International health spending was already falling after the COVID-19 pandemic, but it plummeted in 2025, according to the report from the US-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).
Health aid to lower-income countries reached a record $80.3 billion (€68.6 billion) in 2021 and then steadily declined. This year, global health funding has plummeted to $38.4 billion (€32.8 billion), the lowest level since 2009.
Under current trends, researchers expect it to fall another 8 per cent to about $36 billion (€30.8 billion) by 2030.
These cuts could undermine years of progress combating diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis, the researchers warned.
It could also make it harder for people in lower-income countries to access pregnancy services and children’s healthcare, and lead to worse water safety and food security.
Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to be hardest hit by the aid cuts, with a 25 per cent drop since last year and another 7 per cent expected over the next five years.
“The drastic and abrupt reduction to [global health aid] could compromise the progress in health that has been achieved globally,” Dr Angela Apeagyei, the study’s lead author and a research assistant professor at IHME, said in a statement.
The decline is largely due to budget cuts from major donors, particularly the United States, which has traditionally been the world’s top funder of global health. It plans to reduce its foreign assistance by 67 per cent this year compared with 2024, the estimates show.
The estimates take into account additional planned cuts from the US, including a proposal to cancel previously approved money for the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), as well as US cuts to Gavi, the vaccine-sharing nonprofit, that were announced last month.
The United Kingdom and Germany also made large cuts in 2025, redirecting spending to defence, while France reduced its global health funding over domestic concerns about how well the money was being used, the report noted.
Not all wealthy countries are slashing health aid. This year, Australia, Japan, and South Korea increased their spending slightly, while aid from Canada, China, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) remained flat.
But countries’ pledges to boost health spending will not be enough to fill the gap left by the funding cuts, the researchers said.
