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Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said the major donor nations dealt a devastating blow to the right to health for millions of people worldwide when they cut support for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

In a statement shared with Financial Nigeria on 22 January 2026, HRW said only $11.85 billion has so far been pledged for 2026-2028, out of an urgently needed $18 billion. All but one of the 10 leading donors reduced their pledges.

“People will die because of donor nations’ decisions to cut pledges to the Global Fund,” said Julia Bleckner, senior health researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Donor nations should immediately step up and close this funding gap.”

The Global Fund, an independent public-private partnership and international financing institution, provides nearly two-thirds of all international financing for tuberculosis programmes, more than half for malaria programmes, and more than a quarter for HIV programmes, according to the statement. Since it began in 2002, the Global Fund estimated it has saved 70 million lives.