View this email in your browser ([link removed])
AVAC Advocates' Network Logo July 2, 2026
Global Health Watch is a weekly newsletter breaking down critical developments in US policies and their impact on global health. Tailored for our partners in the US and around the world, this resource offers a concise analysis of the week’s events, supporting advocates to respond to threats, challenges and opportunities in this critical period of change in global health.
As many in the United States pause to commemorate Independence Day – and, hopefully, re-commit to the fundamental principles of democracy – the global health community continues to navigate the far-reaching effects of US policy decisions. Institutions are changing, governance is being redefined and the systems that have underpinned the global HIV response are being reshaped. This issue covers developments in global health governance, the continued restructuring of US vaccine policy and growing concerns that PEPFAR's transition is outpacing the systems needed to sustain it.
** Global Governance Shifts
------------------------------------------------------------
The last two weeks, and the week ahead, mark key moments for global health governance with implications for the HIV response. Last week, for the first time in 25 years, UN Member States adopted a new Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS with a vote (with the US voting no), as opposed to the historic consensus of all past declarations. This week, both the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) and the Unitaid Executive Board met against the backdrop of financial strain and uncertainty. Conversations and debates about their future roles continued, including questions about UNAIDS' future structure within the UN system. Next week, the Global Fund Board will meet as it prepares to select its next Executive Director who is expected to shape the Fund’s strategic direction during one of the most challenging periods in its history.
IMPLICATIONS: In all these meetings, there is a reassessment of each entity and a reenvisioning of how global health organizations will coordinate, finance and sustain the HIV response in an era of constrained resources and shifting geopolitical priorities. As countries work toward the 2030 goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat, the decisions made by these governing bodies in the coming weeks will help determine whether and how the HIV response maintains the leadership, financing, accountability, collaboration and civil society engagement needed to carry the response forward.
READ:
* Does the UN Political Declaration on HIV/ AIDS Even Matter Anymore? ([link removed]) —Lights. Camera. Equity! Substack
* Merger, hub, or slimmer secretariat? What's next for UNAIDS ([link removed]) —Devex
* Candidates Shortlisted In Contentious Global Fund Leadership Race ([link removed]) —Health Policy Watch
* From innovation to impact: Building on 20 years of progress ([link removed]) —Unitaid
** US HHS Rewrites ACIP Charter, Further Reshaping US Vaccine Policy
------------------------------------------------------------
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a new charter for the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), broadening the Committee's mandate and reducing the qualifications required for membership. Previously, vaccine expertise was a requirement, but the revised charter states that members should collectively represent a "balanced range of scientific, clinical, and public health expertise". The new charter also expands the Committee's focus beyond reviewing vaccines to considering alternative approaches to disease prevention.
IMPLICATIONS: This is the latest step in the restructuring of ACIP. By broadening the Committee's remit and redefining membership qualifications, vaccine policymaking is further politicized and vaccine confidence continues to erode. This creates further instability and uncertainty for vaccine manufacturers, healthcare providers and immunization programs worldwide.
READ:
* New ACIP charter could allow RFK Jr. to further restrict vaccine access, critics say ([link removed]) —CIDRAP
* Inside the C.D.C.’s Mad Scramble to Meet Kennedy’s Demands ([link removed]) —New York Times
* Sanders releases trove of internal HHS emails showing RFK Jr. pressured CDC over vaccine messaging ([link removed]) —The Hill
* RFK Jr Changes Terms for US Vaccine Committee as Email Leak Reveals Sustained Political Interference in Vaccine Policy ([link removed]) —Health Policy Watch
** PEPFAR In Transition
------------------------------------------------------------
Two commentaries this week recognize the breaking point to which PEPFAR is nearing. The Health Security Policy Academy argues ([link removed]) that despite the temporary extensions, which have kept and continue to keep parts of PEPFAR operating, the US Department of State has not yet built a viable implementation system to keep HIV treatment, supply chains, laboratories and community programs working. At the same time, Emily Bass, Yvette Raphael, Nono Eland and colleagues at Physicians for Human Rights argue ([link removed]) in Think Global Health that the planned phase-out of all US PEPFAR support for South Africa by early 2027 is not a routine transition to country ownership, and caution that this accelerated withdrawal risks severed disruption to HIV prevention, surveillance, research and community programs that have long depended on US partnership.
IMPLICATIONS: Without a clear implementation strategy and carefully managed country transitions, these abrupt changes to PEPFAR threaten essential HIV services. A more deliberate, evidence-based approach that preserves critical infrastructure while supporting long-term country ownership is needed. “The dismantling of USAID showed what happens when the Administration destroys an operating system before a replacement exists. That chaos was not an accident, but it was sudden,” writes the Health Security Policy Academy. It remains even less clear what happens next with leadership transitions at the State Department: Jeremy Lewin who has led the State Department's foreign aid bureau for the last year is heading to the National Security Council, and is being replaced by Andrew Veprek, who has pushed immigration and refugee restrictions at the State Department – and confirmation hearings are yet to be scheduled for Johnny Figueroa as the ambassador-at-large for global health security and diplomacy
and PEPFAR.
READ:
* The CDC PEPFAR Shutdown Is Hiding in Plain Sight ([link removed]) —Health Security Policy Academy
* United States Pulls Funding for South Africa, Threatening HIV Defenses ([link removed]) —Think Global Health
* Human impact of cuts to global aid in South Africa ([link removed](26)00120-7/fulltext) —The Lancet HIV
* State Department's foreign aid chief heads to the White House ([link removed]) —Devex
* Immigration hardliner takes over US foreign aid ([link removed]) —Devex
* U.S.A.I.D. Cuts Killed People. That’s the Truth. ([link removed]) —New York Times
What We're Reading
• NIH Budget Cuts Threaten HIV Research ([link removed]) —Think Global Health
• The war against ‘woke’ could end US science as we know it ([link removed]) —The Verge
• NIH likely to award fewer grants as it races to spend 2026 budget ([link removed]) —Science
• Inside the new political screening that’s stalling NIH grants ([link removed]) —Nature
• US to give Tanzania $1.3 billion under five-year health pact ([link removed]) —Reuters
• Tanzania, US sign Sh8 trillion health partnership to strengthen health systems ([link removed]) —The Citizen
• Quiet regulation changes could censor vital research ([link removed]) —The Boston Globe
• 3 questions about the future of US foreign aid ([link removed]) —Devex Pro Insider
• Exclusive: Democrats push Trump to coordinate with WHO on Ebola ([link removed]) —Semafor
• US-UK drug deal could result in 229,000 excess deaths in England, analysis suggests ([link removed]) —The Guardian
• Zim Intensifies HIV Prevention Drive as Lenacapavir Gains Momentum ([link removed]) —The Herald
• Anthropic releases Claude Science, a product aimed at researchers, the pharma industry ([link removed]) —STAT
• Pileup of health nominees awaits Senate health panel ([link removed]) —Axios
• Global Fund Approves Emergency Funding to Maintain TB and HIV Services in Crisis-Affected Lebanon and Iraq ([link removed]) —The Global Fund
• Military Leaders Sought Flu Vaccination Program Weeks Before Outbreak Hit Base ([link removed]) —New York Times
• Attacks on Science: A Methodology for Tracking and Identifying Threats to Science in the Federal Government ([link removed]) —Union of Concerned Scientists
Follow us @hivpxresearch ([link removed])
[link removed] [link removed] [link removed]
Share this issue ([link removed])
AVAC Global Advocacy for HIV Prevention
+1 212 796 6423
[email protected] (mailto:
[email protected]) www.avac.org ([link removed])
You're receiving this because you signed up for our newsletter. Not interested any longer?
Manage email preferences ([link removed]) | Unsubscribe ([link removed])
