Trump's heartless hiv blackmail in zambia

The Trump administration is blackmailing Zambia over its HIV program, using the virus as a gun to the head.

A cruz, muerte, deuda y desesperación en zambia

While the U.S. cuts off aid to Zambia, the country's HIV rate is rising. The president and his cabinet, made up of heartless motherfuckers, have set an April 30 deadline for Zambia to accept a new health funding agreement tied to giving the U.S. expanded access to its mineral resources. This is extortion, pure and simple.

Under the George W. Bush presidency, the PEPFAR program saved hundreds of thousands of Zambian lives. But last year, as part of its restructuring of foreign aid, the Trump administration cut off its funding for HIV programs, saying many had been wasteful and an inappropriate use of taxpayer dollars.

Now, Zambia is facing a crisis. The Zambian government says most of the 1.3 million people who were on HIV treatment in January are still receiving their drugs, but because many prevention services have been cut, health officials fear infection rates are inevitably rising.

The United States Agency for International Development abruptly closed dozens of local organizations providing PEPFAR services in the northern half of Zambia, the region with the highest rates of HIV prevalence and transmission. Baby testing has gone from hours old to six weeks, and community health workers have lost their jobs, leaving people vulnerable to HIV without support.

This is not just a humanitarian disaster; it's a political one. The Trump administration is using its power to force Zambia to hand over its mineral wealth. Zambia is one of the world's major copper producers and has huge reserves of key minerals for the green energy transition. And HIV is the gun to the head of a ravaged country.

In the wake of the Trump administration's broad cut to foreign aid last year, the State Department has been pushing countries to sign new agreements pledging to meet certain conditions to receive American funds. Twenty-four countries have signed agreements worth a total of $20 billion in health aid over five years. In most cases, the main requirement is that the receiving country commit to increasing its own health spending.