JAKARTA: Indonesia’s health partnerships with the US Agency for International Development are on hold and it remains unclear whether they will be permanently suspended, its health minister said on Thursday (Feb 6).
US President Donald Trump’s administration is considering merging USAID, Washington’s primary humanitarian agency, into the State Department in a major revamp that would shrink its workforce and align its spending with his “America First” policy.
A US freeze on foreign aid for Indonesia could strain the Asian country’s efforts to fight against HIV and tuberculosis, which replaced COVID-19 to become the top cause of infectious disease-related deaths globally in 2023.
“That is on hold. Not stopped,” health minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin told Reuters, referring to its projects with USAID.
“We don’t know if it’s confirmed to be erased or still under assessment,” he said, adding he may have more clarity in the next 90 days.
USAID has invested US$800 million in Indonesia since 2020, the US embassy in Jakarta said in November.
The Southeast Asian country’s projects with the US agency have involved HIV and tuberculosis. More so than USAID, Budi said, Indonesia also receives drugs from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which counts Washington as its biggest donor.
The US embassy in Jakarta and USAID did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/indonesia-health-programmes-usaid-hold-minister-says-4921321
