Roughly $12 million worth of HIV-prevention drugs and contraceptives purchased by the U.S. Agency for International Development will likely be destroyed after President Donald Trump dismantled the organization, according to a report.
These drugs have been sitting in distribution centers in Belgium and the UAE since January, when Trump ended the agency’s spending, The Washington Post reported. Now, negotiators have been instructed to sell the drugs or else they’ll be thrown out, according to the outlet.
“The mandate that [the USAID negotiator] has been given is ‘get us money for it, and if you can’t do that, we’re just going to trash it,’” someone with knowledge of the situation told the Post.
These supplies include more than 26 million condoms, 2 million doses of injectable birth control, millions of packages of oral birth control, hundreds of thousands of implantable contraceptive devices, and over 50,000 vials of a drug that prevents HIV contraction, the Post reports.
Some of these supplies were earmarked for 18 countries, meaning those governments may never get the aid even though it was already purchased, according to the Post.
When contacted for comment, a senior State Department official told The Independent that the Post has “once again delivered fake news” and the “story is full of inaccuracies.”
Atul Gawande, a former assistant USAID administrator, told the Post the potential destruction of these drugs is “inconceivable.” Meanwhile, Former USAID head Andrew Natsios called the decision “nuts.”
“At this point, just give it away instead of destroying it, for heaven’s sakes,” he told the Post.
Trump cut off USAID funds in January, saying the organization that provides humanitarian aid abroad is “not aligned with American interests.” The Trump administration is also poised to ask Congress for $8.3 billion in cuts to foreign aid efforts, which range from climate work to LGBTQ+ programs, The Independent previously reported.
The decision has derailed the projected end of the AIDS pandemic and means the number of AIDS-related deaths could jump from six million to 10 million in the next five years unless aid is reinstated, The Independent previously reported. Data projections indicate there will be 3.4 million more orphans who have lost at least one parent to AIDS, and 600,000 more newborns could contract HIV by 2030.
“All the gains that we’ve seen over the last 20 years will start being steadily reversed,” Professor Francois Venter, a leading HIV doctor at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, previously told The Independent.
Hadja, a 27-year-old mother of three in Uganda, previously told The Independent she has lost access to lifesaving medication since Trump effectively shut down USAID.
“Our lives depend on medicine – without it, our lives are shortened,” she said. “If I die, my children will suffer.”
