Whats New? Politics and Development Aid

Health programmes have been disrupted in 2025 in a dramatic way. The Trump Administration has reduced the support to many LMICs, particularly in Health. Added to this, in Rwanda, the Belgian five year health programme was suspended by President Kagame, in response to criticism by the Belgium Government related to the military activity in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The support was primarily funding, directly to the government, for priority activities put forward by the Ministry of Health and Rwanda Biomedical Centre. The programme started in July 2024 and was planned until June 2029. Health Aid for LMICs has always been influenced by politics. Fashions in the way funding was delivered changed from project to sector support to Results based Financing and back to projects. Bilateral aid agencies respond to the changes in population level views, their electoral base. Ironically, both USAID and Belgium Government were moving towards new ways of delivering support to the health sector. USAID launched a new position paper on evidence-based strategy and another with a stronger focus on 'give directly' approaches in November 2024. Support from Belgium, in the 2024-29 health programme, was primarily funding channeled directly to the Rwandan government for priorities set by the Ministry of Health and the Rwanda Biomedical Centre. A new way of delivering health to populations has been forced upon most LMICs. We look forward to hearing your views on these developments...