Global Health Funding Update and Legal Risks from U.S. Vaccine Changes
January 16, 2026
Editors' Note
On Sunday night, the U.S. Senate released a bipartisan funding bill for the State Department that included $9.4 billion for global health. That amount is more than double the $3.8 billion the State Department requested and signals that this year the United States could spend more than expected on health programs.
To put that spending in context, new estimates from the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation convey how much global health funding dropped over the course of 2025 and which recipient nations experienced the steepest cuts, after the United States and other countries reduced foreign aid. TGH Data Visuals Editor Allison Krugman explains that cuts to tuberculosis, sanitation, and food aid programs in Asia and the Middle East were larger than previously believed.
To continue our exploration of last year's cuts, global health policy leader Sabeeha Quereshi outlines how, in conflict-affected settings and U.S. health systems, political will rather than scarcity drives hunger. To repair the battered food-aid infrastructure, governments need to implement a human-centered, practical approach that makes dignity a strategic imperative, not a charitable afterthought to other sectors.
The U.S. decision to withdraw from multilateral forums has also offered China the opportunity to take a greater part in global health leadership. Gareth Jones and Zhida Shang, recent graduates from Tsinghua University, and Ruby Wang, honorary global public health fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, provide insight into how China's emphasis on bilateral aid and equal partnerships offers an attractive alternative to traditional global health models.
Next, the United States rang in 2026 with a new vaccine schedule for children and teens. TGH Managing Editor Nsikan Akpan speaks with University of California, San Francisco law professor Dorit Reiss about whether the schedule creates legal liability for pediatricians and new pressure for states to change their school vaccination requirements.
To wrap up, Cynthia Lien, a Dalla Lana fellow in journalism and health impact and a geriatrician in New York City, describes why people older than 50 are at greater risk of falling victim to artificial intelligence (AI) scams, and the regulatory efforts underway to protect them.
Until next week!—Nsikan Akpan, Managing Editor, and Caroline Kantis, Associate Editor
