On 10 February 2025, Knowledge Centre Global Health (KCGH), together with a broad collective of Dutch organisations and experts in global health, sent an urgent letter to Minister Fleur Agema (Health, Welfare and Sport) and Minister Reinette Klever (Foreign Trade and Development Aid). In this letter, we express our grave concerns about the recent policy changes of the US administration under President Trump, which have an immediate and disruptive impact on essential health programmes worldwide.
With the United States' withdrawal from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the sudden suspension of all USAID-funded health programmes, millions of people worldwide risk losing access to life-saving care. This affects, among others, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)and key programmes for malaria, tuberculosis, maternal and child care, sexual and reproductive health and water and sanitation facilities. Within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, including Curaçao, Aruba and Bonaire, healthcare organisations are also feeling the direct impact of falling funding.
Netherlands must show leadership
The letter highlights the far-reaching implications of these policy changes and calls on the government to formulate a strong and coordinated response together with European partners. The Netherlands has a long tradition of supporting global health initiatives and, just as the US is pulling out, should take steps to mitigate this impact and strengthen international cooperation.
We call on the Dutch government to:
- Monitor the impact of US measures on global health and formulate a response with civil society organisations.
- Make additional diplomatic and financial efforts to keep essential health programmes running.
- Advocate within the EU and multilateral organisations such as the WHO for a joint approach.
Also sign and amplify the call
To add strength to this message, we invite professionals and organisations in global health to join this call.
By signing:
- Demonstrate broad support for a strong Dutch and European response.
- Contribute to a concerted effort to mitigate the impact of US policy changes.
- Support the call to make global health financing structurally less dependent on large donors.
➡️ Sign the letter at this link And join the call!
The full letter can be downloaded here.
Do you have questions or additional insights on the impact of these developments? Contact us at info@kcgh.nl.
Help out: share your experiences
Alongside this call, we are also working to identify the direct impact of these policy changes. We are currently collecting case histories and experiences from Dutch and foreign healthcare professionals who see the impact in their work.
To pool this information and send an even stronger message, we have launched a survey. Do you work in global health and notice the impact of the loss of US funding? Your input is essential.
📌 Complete the survey:
Do you have specific cases or signals you want to share with us? Please contact us via info@kcgh.nl.
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