science

Global health funding by the United States

Global health funding by the United States is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Global health funding by the United States rather than just read about it. In short: The United States is the largest donor of multilateral global health funds. According to the Office of Management and Budget, the U.S. government contributes <1% of the federal budget for foreign aid including global health activities.

Key takeaways

Global health funding by the United States belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Global health funding by the United States to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Global health funding by the United States from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The United States is the largest donor of multilateral global health funds. According to the Office of Management and Budget, the U.S. government contributes <1% of the federal budget for foreign aid including global health activities. In 2023, the U.S. contributed 12.9 billion USD towards global health activities across several health verticals including HIV, Tuberculosis, Malaria and COVID-19. In 2024, total U.S. global health funding through regular appropriations reached approximately $12.3 billion in FY 2024, up from $5.4 billion in FY 2006. In 2025, President Trump’s administration paused U.S. foreign aid, impacting global health programs like PEPFAR and leading to legal challenges. The administration withdrew from the World Health Organization, citing concerns over its effectiveness and political influence. Budget cuts reduced funding for the National Institutes of Health and global health initiatives, raising concerns about research setbacks. USAID faced restructuring, disrupting climate, health, and education projects, particularly in the Indo-Pacific. These changes sparked debates over the future of U.S. leadership in global health and the potential humanitarian consequences.

HIV The allocations by the United States of over $110 billion, represents the largest investment ever made by any nation in a single disease. The U.S. began funding global HIV initiatives in 1986, with efforts increasing substantially in 2003 with the launch of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) by U.S. President George W. Bush, the largest program dedicated to a single disease globally. PEPFAR accounts for the majority (89%) of U.S. global HIV funding, which includes support for UNAIDS and international HIV research. Managed by the Department of State's Bureau for Global Health Security and Diplomacy, PEPFAR funding is detailed in annual congressional appropriations and also supports agencies like USAID, CDC, and DoD. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) also contributes to international HIV research. From FY 2015 to FY 2024, global HIV funding represented 42%-50% of the U.S. global health budget, with FY 2024 allocations totaling $5.4 billion, including $4.9 billion for PEPFAR and $575 million for NIH research. The Biden administration recently announced a six percent cut to the PEPFAR budget for FY 2025 with a proposed budget $4.4 billion. The Trump administration on January 28, 2025 announced a freeze in funding to PEPFAR. Later in the day on January 28, the Trump administration issued a waiver for critical medicines and medical services, reinstating a global HIV treatment program that had been halted the previous week. U.S. secretary of state Marco Rubio announced the waiver, which seemingly authorized the distribution of HIV medications. However, it was uncertain whether the exemption extended to preventive treatments or other services offered through PEPFAR.

Malaria The U.S. has participated in global malaria efforts since the 1950s and is currently the second largest donor, following the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), led by USAID and co-implemented with the CDC, drives U.S. malaria activities. Additional support comes from NIH and DoD. U.S. bilateral funding for malaria rose from $854 million in FY 2015 to about $1 billion in FY 2024, representing 9% of the U.S. global health budget. Despite increases over the past decade, funding has stabilized in recent years.

Tuberculosis The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) initiated a global tuberculosis (TB) control program in 1998, the U.S. has become one of the leading donors to global TB control. U.S. bilateral TB funding, managed by USAID, includes contributions to the TB Drug Facility and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Over the past decade, U.S. funding for TB has significantly increased, rising from $242 million in FY 2015 to $406 million in FY 2024, now comprising about 3% of the U.S. global health budget of 12.9 billion USD. In 2024, funding for tuberculosis research and development hit a record high of $1.2 billion last year, a 20% increase from 2022 and the highest amount recorded since tracking began in 2005. However, this funding is only a fraction—just 25%—of the $5 billion annual goal set during a United Nations High-Level Meeting on TB aimed at ending the epidemic by 2030. Notably, over half of the funding (53%) came from the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The 20 largest contributors accounted for 86% of the total. Public sector sources provided 62% of the funding, with philanthropies adding 24%, while the private sector, including pharmaceutical companies, contributed just 9% including contributions from the United States.

The Global Fund The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is an independent, multilateral institution that funds HIV, TB, and malaria programs in low- and middle-income countries using contributions from public and private donors. The U.S., its largest donor since providing the founding contribution in 2001, includes these contributions as part of PEPFAR. However, U.S. contributions are subject to restrictions, including a funding match requirement. While U.S. contributions peaked at $2.0 billion in FY 2023, they decreased to $1.7 billion in FY 2024 due to these restrictions. Additionally, the U.S. Congress allocated $3.5 billion in emergency funds in FY 2021 to mitigate COVID-19 impacts on HIV programs. Global Fund investments have led to a 61% reduction in deaths from HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria since 2002, saving 65 million lives according to a 2024 analysis. The Global Fund’s latest report highlights a 55% price reduction for bedaquiline, a key drug for treating drug-resistant tuberculosis, and a 25% drop in the cost of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, lamivudine, and dolutegravir (TLD), the first-line treatment for HIV. A new mosquito net, treated with a dual-active ingredient insecticide, is now 45% more effective against malaria. By leveraging its purchasing power, the Global Fund has been able to lower drug prices. It currently supports 25 million people on antiretroviral treatment, preventing 1.66 billion hospitalization days and 1.36 billion outpatient visits, saving about $85 billion.

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Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Global health funding by the United States

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Global health funding by the United States claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Global health funding by the United States before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Global health funding by the United States ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Global health funding by the United States

In research: Global health funding by the United States appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Global health funding by the United States in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Global health funding by the United States is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Contributions to foreign aid by country, Foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration, HIV/AIDS, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Global health funding by the United States outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Global health funding by the United States in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Global health funding by the United States means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Global health funding by the United States out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Global health funding by the United States in simple terms?

Why does Global health funding by the United States matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Global health funding by the United States?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Global health funding by the United States.