LoveYourself, a Philippines-based group providing free HIV testing and treatment services, was receiving aid from the United States like innumerable groups promoting health and LGBTQ+ rights around the world.
But unlike so many of those organizations that were forced to close clinics when US President Donald Trump announced a 90-day freeze on all foreign assistance on January 20, LoveYourself kept 40 of its staff members affected by the freeze, and its doors stayed open.
The group’s founder, Dr Ronivin Pagtakhan, credited its self-sustaining model and government partnerships.
“We were preparing for these kinds of circumstances,” Pagtakhan told Context/the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “All the basic programmes that we have are still for free.”
With the resilience of LoveYourself as a model, similar groups in the archipelago nation are looking at new financing strategies and sources of funding.
They are calling for greater involvement by local health institutions to protect advocacy groups that are vulnerable to foreign aid withdrawals.
Ten of LoveYourself’s partner clinics for HIV testing and treatment had to close down because they were fully reliant on the support of the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
Trump’s decision to first freeze and then terminate 90 per cent of foreign aid programs included the supply of drugs for HIV treatment and transmission prevention services in low-income countries, leaving LGBTQ+ organisations and advocates particularly concerned.
“
It is clear that governments including ours must recognise our own priorities and take more responsibility for financing… lessening our dependence on international funding cycles and external decisions and protocols.
Teodoro Herbosa, secretary, Department of Health
Heavily reliant on foreign aid
While all 22 LoveYourself clinics remain open, Pagtakhan said suspension of USAID funding affected free deliveries of about 8,000 free HIV testing kits and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PREP) every month to clients all over the country. The kits now must be picked up at the clinics.
The Philippines is facing one of the world’s fastest-growing HIV epidemics, with a staggering 543 per cent increase in new HIV infections between 2010 and 2023, according to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).
Globally, new HIV infections declined by 39 per cent during the same period.
The Philippine HIV epidemic is driven largely through sexual transmission among men who have sex with men and transgender women, according to government data. Statistics also show that late diagnosis and treatment persist in the Philippines.
USAID, through a programme called the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, has contributed more than US$34.7 million to support the Philippines’ HIV response since 2020.
In 2024, USAID also approved an obligation of US$6.68 million for HIV epidemic control in the Philippines.
In addition, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, an international financing organisation that had the US government as its single largest donor, has donated about US$50 million to the Philippines’ HIV response since 2020.
‘So sudden’
The US also funded new initiatives by LGBTQ+ groups such as Transmasculine Philippines, an education and peer-support network.
The group’s founder, Mattias Alea, said he wanted to provide opportunities for trans Filipinos to meet and gain skills to handle employment, health and legal challenges.
Last year, it received a year-long funding from USAID to build Tanggap Trans Hub, the first community centre for trans-Filipinos that serves as a low-cost venue for small LGBTQ+ groups and startups.
The USAID stop work order came just two months after the hub was launched in November, halting at least 20 events that included workshops on employment equity, medical transitioning and the legal rights of LGBTQ+ couples.
“It was just so sudden,” Alea said.
“We had to close the centre and not incur more costs” just as the community was learning about its existence, he said, adding that he still hadn’t heard if it was a temporary suspension or permanent termination.
Alea said the new goal is to reopen the Trans Hub by acquiring funding from countries in the Asia and Pacific region or in Europe.
The group is also trying to raise funds through benefit concerts and book fairs launched by Filipino artists.
Government support
The Philippine government is seeking to identify sources of domestic financing to address the projected funding gap in HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis programmes, the Department of Health said in a statement in early February.
It said it planned to mobilise reimbursements by the national health insurance program known as PhilHealth and secure grants, loans and investments from local governments and the private sector.
“It is clear that governments including ours must recognise our own priorities and take more responsibility for financing, … lessening our dependence on international funding cycles and external decisions and protocols,” Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said in the statement.
The Department of Health noted the decline in foreign fund allocations may pose significant challenges in buying essential commodities such as antiretroviral therapy.
The department did not say how much money has been allocated for HIV programmes this year and how much will be covered by foreign aid.
It said “the delivery of health services by DOH and the expansion of PhilHealth benefit packages continues unimpeded.”
Alea added that the USAID suspension could be a chance to rethink how advocacy groups and the government can work together to deliver life-saving services.
“In a perfect world, we wouldn’t need to depend on international funding,” he said.
This story was published with permission from Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, resilience, women’s rights, trafficking and property rights. Visit https://www.context.news/.
