USAID Cut Threatens Billions Spent on Disease Progress

Withdrawal of funding could undo decades of work to eliminate neglected tropical diseases

Published on Mar. 6, 2026

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Researchers warn that the Trump administration's sudden defunding of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in 2025 has created a real-life Sisyphean struggle for countries working to eliminate neglected tropical diseases like lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis. The withdrawal of USAID support is abandoning the boulder of disease elimination partway up the mountain, and when countries are unable to provide treatment, the parasites that cause these diseases will spread to infect more people, undoing decades and billions of dollars of work.

Why it matters

Lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis are centuries-old afflictions that cause significant pain, disability, and stigma for those affected. Global health efforts have made significant progress in reducing the number of people exposed to these infections, but the sudden loss of USAID funding threatens to undo this hard-won progress.

The details

The global health community has worked for over 50 years to eliminate infections like lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis through controlling the insect vectors that spread them and distributing antiparasitic medications to entire communities. These efforts have been supported by USAID and USAID-funded NGOs, but the Trump administration's 2025 funding cuts halted over 40 drug distribution drives affecting over 140 million people. Without this support, countries may be unable to continue providing treatment, allowing the parasites to spread unchecked.

  • In 1974, the World Health Organization coordinated global efforts to eliminate onchocerciasis.
  • In 2000, the World Health Organization coordinated global efforts to eliminate lymphatic filariasis.
  • As of 2024, 871 million people no longer need preventive medications for lymphatic filariasis, and 21 countries have eliminated this infection.
  • Five countries have eliminated onchocerciasis.
  • In 2025, the Trump administration's funding cuts to USAID halted over 40 drug distribution drives affecting over 140 million people.

The players

Sarah Greene

Instructor in Pediatrics and Infectious Diseases, Washington University in St. Louis.

Philip Budge

Associate Professor of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis.

World Health Organization

Coordinated global efforts to eliminate onchocerciasis starting in 1974 and lymphatic filariasis starting in 2000.

Merck

The manufacturer of ivermectin, which is provided for free to each country's disease control program.

GlaxoSmithKline and Eisai

Respectively donate the antiparasitic medications albendazole and diethylcarbamazine citrate for these campaigns.

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What they’re saying

“If the world turns its back on eliminating these diseases, millions of people will be hurt by the boulder rolling back down.”

— Sarah Greene, Instructor in Pediatrics and Infectious Diseases, Washington University in St. Louis

What’s next

The Trump administration's withdrawal of USAID funding has created an urgent need for countries and the global health community to find alternative sources of support to continue the fight against neglected tropical diseases.

The takeaway

The sudden loss of USAID funding threatens to undo decades of hard-won progress in eliminating debilitating neglected tropical diseases like lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis, which primarily affect the world's poorest populations. Maintaining this progress will require the global health community to quickly mobilize alternative funding sources and strategies to ensure uninterrupted treatment and disease control efforts.