LONDON: Global aid funding cuts, led by the United States, are disrupting efforts to vaccinate children against deadly diseases almost as much as the COVID-19 pandemic did, the United Nations said on Thursday.
Outbreaks of infectious diseases, including measles, meningitis and yellow fever, have been increasing globally.
Emergency and routine vaccinations meanwhile were significantly affected in nearly half of countries at the start of April due to the funding cuts, according to reports from World Health Organization offices in 108 largely low and lower-middle income countries.
Cuts to funding also reduced vaccine supplies and hampered disease surveillance, the WHO and UNICEF said in a joint release with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
“Setbacks (are) at a similar level to what we saw during COVID-19. We cannot afford to lose ground in the fight against preventable disease,” said Catherine Russell, UNICEF executive director. COVID-19 caused what was called the largest backslide in childhood vaccination in a generation, and aid funding cuts, led by the US – formerly the world’s largest donor – risked the same outcome, the joint release said.
They called for funding for childhood immunization to be maintained ahead of Gavi’s funding round, which will be launched in June. The group is seeking $9 billion for its work from 2026-2030.
Sania Nishtar, Gavi’s chief executive officer, said it was possible to fight the rise of infectious diseases but only if the group is fully funded.
Measles cases have increased year-on-year since 2021, while meningitis surged in Africa last year and yellow fever cases also rose after declines in the last decade, the agencies said. Last month, an internal US government document showed it would follow its cuts to UNICEF and the WHO, part of wider plans to streamline and focus foreign aid to align with the “America First” policy, by canceling its contribution of around $300 million annually to Gavi.
Last week, the US State Department told Reuters it had nominated Mark Lloyd, assistant administrator for global health, to Gavi’s 28-person board. The US seat had previously been vacant.
Both the US State Department and Gavi declined to comment about what this could mean for US funding.
![]()
Aid funding cuts disrupt child vaccinations almost as much as pandemic, says UN
Short Url
https://arab.news/c5vz2
Aid funding cuts disrupt child vaccinations almost as much as pandemic, says UN
- Outbreaks of infectious diseases, including measles, meningitis and yellow fever, have been increasing globally
- Cuts to funding also reduced vaccine supplies and hampered disease surveillance
France’s screen siren Brigitte Bardot dies at 91
- French PM Emmanuel Macron hails the actor as a legend who 'embodied a life of freedom'
- Film star also courted controversy, embracing far-right views in her later years
PARIS: French film sensation Brigitte Bardot, a symbol of sexual liberation in the 1950s and 1960s who reinvented herself as an animal rights defender and embraced far-right views, died on Sunday aged 91, her foundation said.
She died in her Saint-Tropez home, La Madrague, on the French Riviera.
“The Brigitte Bardot Foundation announces with immense sadness the death of its founder and president, Madame Brigitte Bardot, a world-renowned actor and singer, who chose to abandon her prestigious career to dedicate her life and energy to animal welfare and her foundation,” it said in a statement sent to AFP.
The cause of death was not given. But Bardot was briefly hospitalized in October for what her office called a “minor” procedure. Bardot at the time had lambasted “idiot” Internet users for speculation that she had died.
Tributes were immediately paid to the star who was known as “BB” in her home country, with President Emmanuel Macron calling her a “legend” of the 20th century.
Born on September 28, 1934 in Paris, Bardot was raised in a well-off traditional Catholic household. Married four times, she had one child, Nicolas-Jacques Charrier, with her second husband, actor Jacques Charrier.
Bardot became a global star after appearing in “And God created Woman” in 1956, and went on to appear in about 50 more movies before giving up acting in 1973.
She turned her back on celebrity to look after abandoned animals, saying she was “sick of being beautiful every day.”
Far-right leanings
“With her films, her voice, her dazzling glory, her initials (BB), her sorrows, her generous passion for animals, and her face that became Marianne, Brigitte Bardot embodied a life of freedom,” Macron wrote on X, referring to the Marianne image used as the female symbol of the French republic.
His tribute, though, made no reference of Bardot’s alignment with far-right views in her post-cinema years, which alienated many of her fans.
Bardot was convicted five times for hate speech, mostly about Muslims, but also the inhabitants of the French island of Reunion whom she described as “savages.”
A supporter of far-right politician Marine Le Pen, Bardot declared herself “against the Islamization of France” in a 2003 book, citing “our ancestors, our grandfathers, our fathers have for centuries given their lives to push out successive invaders.”
The head of Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party, Jordan Bardella, was among the first to pay homage.
“Today the French people have lost the Marianne they so loved,” he wrote on X, calling her an “ardent patriot.”
Le Pen, who has been barred from public office pending an appeal trial in January, also paid tribute to Bardot as “incredibly French: free, untamable, whole.”
In her final book, Mon BBcedaire (“My BB Alphabet“), published weeks before her death, Bardot fired barbs at what she described as a “dull, sad, submissive” France and at her home town of Saint-Tropez, now packed with the wealthy tourists she helped attract.
The book also contained derogatory remarks about gay and transgender people.
Saint-Tropez retreat
After retiring from cinema, Bardot withdrew to her home in the Riviera resort of Saint-Tropez where she devoted herself to fighting for animals.
Her calling apparently came when she encountered a goat on the set of her final film, “The Edifying and Joyous Story of Colinot.” To save it from being killed, she bought the animal and kept it in her hotel room.
Bardot went on to found the Brigitte Bardot Foundation in 1986, which now has 70,000 donors and around 300 employees, according to its website.
“I’m very proud of the first chapter of my life,” she told AFP in a 2024 interview ahead of her 90th birthday.
“It gave me fame, and that fame allows me to protect animals — the only cause that truly matters to me.”
She added that she lived in “silent solitude” in her home “La Madrague,” surrounded by nature and content to be “fleeing humanity.”
On the subject of death, she warned that she wanted to avoid the presence of “a crowd of idiots” at her funeral and wished for a simple wooden cross above her grave, in her garden — the same as for her animals.
She died in her Saint-Tropez home, La Madrague, on the French Riviera.
“The Brigitte Bardot Foundation announces with immense sadness the death of its founder and president, Madame Brigitte Bardot, a world-renowned actor and singer, who chose to abandon her prestigious career to dedicate her life and energy to animal welfare and her foundation,” it said in a statement sent to AFP.
The cause of death was not given. But Bardot was briefly hospitalized in October for what her office called a “minor” procedure. Bardot at the time had lambasted “idiot” Internet users for speculation that she had died.
Tributes were immediately paid to the star who was known as “BB” in her home country, with President Emmanuel Macron calling her a “legend” of the 20th century.
Born on September 28, 1934 in Paris, Bardot was raised in a well-off traditional Catholic household. Married four times, she had one child, Nicolas-Jacques Charrier, with her second husband, actor Jacques Charrier.
Bardot became a global star after appearing in “And God created Woman” in 1956, and went on to appear in about 50 more movies before giving up acting in 1973.
She turned her back on celebrity to look after abandoned animals, saying she was “sick of being beautiful every day.”
Far-right leanings
“With her films, her voice, her dazzling glory, her initials (BB), her sorrows, her generous passion for animals, and her face that became Marianne, Brigitte Bardot embodied a life of freedom,” Macron wrote on X, referring to the Marianne image used as the female symbol of the French republic.
His tribute, though, made no reference of Bardot’s alignment with far-right views in her post-cinema years, which alienated many of her fans.
Bardot was convicted five times for hate speech, mostly about Muslims, but also the inhabitants of the French island of Reunion whom she described as “savages.”
A supporter of far-right politician Marine Le Pen, Bardot declared herself “against the Islamization of France” in a 2003 book, citing “our ancestors, our grandfathers, our fathers have for centuries given their lives to push out successive invaders.”
The head of Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party, Jordan Bardella, was among the first to pay homage.
“Today the French people have lost the Marianne they so loved,” he wrote on X, calling her an “ardent patriot.”
Le Pen, who has been barred from public office pending an appeal trial in January, also paid tribute to Bardot as “incredibly French: free, untamable, whole.”
In her final book, Mon BBcedaire (“My BB Alphabet“), published weeks before her death, Bardot fired barbs at what she described as a “dull, sad, submissive” France and at her home town of Saint-Tropez, now packed with the wealthy tourists she helped attract.
The book also contained derogatory remarks about gay and transgender people.
Saint-Tropez retreat
After retiring from cinema, Bardot withdrew to her home in the Riviera resort of Saint-Tropez where she devoted herself to fighting for animals.
Her calling apparently came when she encountered a goat on the set of her final film, “The Edifying and Joyous Story of Colinot.” To save it from being killed, she bought the animal and kept it in her hotel room.
Bardot went on to found the Brigitte Bardot Foundation in 1986, which now has 70,000 donors and around 300 employees, according to its website.
“I’m very proud of the first chapter of my life,” she told AFP in a 2024 interview ahead of her 90th birthday.
“It gave me fame, and that fame allows me to protect animals — the only cause that truly matters to me.”
She added that she lived in “silent solitude” in her home “La Madrague,” surrounded by nature and content to be “fleeing humanity.”
On the subject of death, she warned that she wanted to avoid the presence of “a crowd of idiots” at her funeral and wished for a simple wooden cross above her grave, in her garden — the same as for her animals.
Latest updates
© 2025 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement.