Malawi’s healthcare system has been plunged into crisis after sweeping cuts to funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), leaving vital services for HIV, malaria and other conditions severely disrupted and reversing years of public health gains. According to health providers and civil society organisations, the withdrawal of U.S. aid over the past year has undone progress in disease prevention and treatment and forced the suspension of key programmes.
The Family Planning Association of Malawi (FPAM) long a cornerstone of rural health outreach, has been forced to halt its mobile clinics that provided contraception and primary health services to remote communities, leaving many without access to basic healthcare. Local residents reported a spike in unplanned pregnancies and reduced access to HIV treatment following the withdrawal of support, compounding challenges for vulnerable populations already struggling with limited resources.
More than one million Malawians living with HIV had previously depended on U.S.-funded programmes for life-saving antiretroviral therapy, but the cuts have left gaps in care that many now struggle to bridge. Community health advocates warn that the rollback of funding has prompted layoffs, scaled-back services and deteriorating health outcomes across much of the country, a situation described by some patients as akin to “a death sentence.”
Healthcare providers say that without renewed and sustained investment, Malawi risks seeing a sharp rise in preventable illness and death from HIV, malaria and tuberculosis, reversing decades of progress in public health and undermining efforts to strengthen the country’s health infrastructure.
