US decision to cancel international aid felt in Victoria's efforts in Africa

The Trump administration’s decision to defund the American international relief agency USAID is having far-reaching consequences and has sent shockwaves of fear into myriad charitable organizations, including Victoria Grandmothers for Africa (VG4A), which provides education and support for families affected by HIV/AIDS.

“It's tragic,” Julie Holder, a VG4A coordinator, tells Capital Daily. “It makes me angry and it makes me feel helpless.”

VG4A, which supports community-led organizations in Africa through the Stephen Lewis Foundation (SLF), says it fears for its partners throughout Sub-Saharan Africa “as they desperately attempt to protect their members from the ensuing chaos.”

The group says it considers US President Donald Trump’s decision to all but shutter the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) “a death sentence for people living with HIV and AIDS.”

Trump’s executive order signed on Jan. 20, imposed a 90-day freeze on foreign assistance projects—including the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) which had invested more than $110 billion since 2003 to combat HIV/AIDS. It also put 1,400 USAID staff members and contractors on notice that they're going to lose their jobs, and cancelled more than $4 billion worth of agreements, equivalent to roughly 14% of the $30 billion in prime awards the organization shared last year.

But mostly, it has hurt the sick and the impoverished.

According to the independent global health reporting organization Health Policy Watch, more than 20 million people worldwide depend on PEPFAR for antiretroviral medicine (ARVs) to control the effects of HIV.

Trump cuts surprise, bewilder

The spending freeze and cuts have closed HIV clinics across Africa and have resulted in the shuttering of many organizations that heavily rely on USAID funding.

“It's so senseless,” Gillian Scadeng, a fellow coordinator for the VG4A, tells Capital Daily.

The SLF reports that clinics, organizations, and hospitals have been told they can’t even distribute the life-saving medications they already have in stock if those medications were purchased with American funds.

“They're cutting off all funding for the drugs for HIV and AIDS, even drugs that are sitting there ready to be distributed,” Holder says.

“We are supporting families, women, children who are affected by AIDS—they're not going to get their drugs.”

Among other trickle-down effects, the cuts will halt the distribution of ARVs, likely reversing progress made in HIV/AIDS control, the group says.

“It's hard to put in words to think that anybody could be that disengaged from who we are as humans that they could even think to do this,” Scadeng says.

'We're going backwards'

Not only are people going to get sick and die, they're going to be transmitting the disease, Scadeng says.

“We're going backwards,” she tells Capital Daily.

“Basically, we're going back to the year 2000 when things were completely out of control,” she says, adding the stigma of AIDS is in itself a big enough social problem in Africa, and only worsens, next to this medicinal situation.

“Because people are having to line up and… I don't know, but I would imagine they're panicking.”

Holder says the developments are maddeningly deflating considering the hard work that has been done on the continent.

“It's one of the positive stories coming out of Africa that we've come so far in dealing with the AIDS epidemic to have that, the possibility of that just being erased and thousands and thousands of people getting sick and dying of AIDS,” Holder says, her voice trailing off in emotion.

“It's just… it makes no sense at all.”

VG4A and its 150 volunteers rely on events and fundraisers to support its mission in a grouping of Sub-Saharan countries, including Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, and Botswana, and 100% of what it raises goes to the SLF.

Since 2006, VG4A has raised more than $2 million, including $218K last year, with $180K+ rolling in from its 18th annual VG4A Cycle Tour in support of African grandmothers raising children orphaned by the HIV/AIDS crisis that continues on that continent.

Most who suffer from HIV/AIDS are living in Africa

In a Jan. 28 posting, the World Health Organization (WHO) said globally, 39.9 million people were living with HIV at the end of 2023—with African countries home to most of those. The humanitarian group SOS Children’s Villages says two-thirds of all HIV-infected people worldwide are Africans. It is the leading cause of death south of the Sahara.

The USAID cutbacks affect not only programs for HIV/AIDS, but also Ebola, tuberculosis, malaria, and more.

“Our projects in terms of education and that sort of thing can continue, but the healthcare and the education are all going to be affected if the drugs aren't available,” Holder says.

When word got out of what was going on, VG4A immediately sent $2,700 to the SLF on top of the $218K the group donated last year. The SLF told its African partners to pivot to use SLF funds for whatever program is most urgent in their community, VG4A said.

The SLF partners with 98 community-led organizations across 14 African countries, providing funding and holistic support. The progressive, pro-women organization was founded in 2003, with the express purpose of supporting organizations working on the frontlines of the HIV epidemic in countries across Africa. The organization has called an emergency appeal to raise money to protect life-saving HIV programs affected by the new US policy.

' We are condemning people to die'

Founder Stephen Lewis, a former Ontario Opposition leader and Canadian ambassador to the United Nations, is quoted on the VG4A website:

“I refuse to dissemble or beat around the bush,” he writes. “With the suspension and cutbacks of foreign aid, the Trump administration’s unhinged and random destructive acts put countless numbers of our projects in Africa and the people they serve, at risk,” he continued.

“AIDS once wiped out an entire generation, and now with the ruthless execution of US executive orders, once more, we are condemning people to die.”

VG4A is encouraging Victorians to support the Stephen Lewis Foundation.

The currently has a running scroll chronicling all donations as it strives to reach its goal of raising $10K as soon as possible. The funds go directly to the SLF and donors will receive a receipt for donations of $20 or more.

Members of Victoria Grandmothers for Africa pose on BC legislature steps. Photo: VG4A