UK aid cuts will undermine global health and pose a risk to children’s lives

The UK has long been a leader in humanitarian aid, demonstrating that smart investment can tackle global challenges—from conflict and climate vulnerability to public health. UK aid has had a crucial role in building resilience in fragile states, reducing displacement, and tackling the root causes of insecurity. However, the government’s recent decision to cut aid spending by £6bn—bringing the UK’s aid contribution to its lowest level in 25 years—threatens to undermine this legacy.1

Beyond the cost of receiving refugees and asylum seekers, the humanitarian and health sectors were the largest areas of UK bilateral aid investment in 2023, accounting for 15% and 13% of the foreign aid budget, respectively.2 Against the backdrop of the US aid freeze,3 and at a time when 300 million people worldwide are in humanitarian need,4 these cuts come as a devastating blow. The far reaching consequences of the UK’s decision, along with declining aid budgets across Europe and from other traditional donors,5 will inevitably harm global health security, placing the weightiest burden on the world’s most vulnerable populations.

One of the most worrying consequences of the aid cuts will be their effect on childhood immunisation efforts. The UK has been a pioneer in immunising children, largely through its support for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Over the past four years, the UK has contributed more than £2bn to the initiative.6 Since its inception 25 years ago, Gavi has helped to vaccinate entire generations in low income countries, protecting one billion children from preventable diseases such as measles, polio, and typhoid.7 With reduced funding on the table, the UK will be forced to scale back its financial contributions, leaving a gap that puts millions of children’s lives at risk.

The work the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has done in Chad, Ethiopia, Nigeria Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan has shown the life saving effect of UK backed immunisation efforts. These programmes have reached children in conflict zones and other hard to access areas, including disputed territories, semi-autonomous regions, and areas controlled by non-state armed groups. The Reaching Every Child in Humanitarian Settings (REACH) initiative alone increased immunisation access in these regions from 16% to 96% in just two years, vaccinating nine million children by February 2025.8

Vaccination campaigns and routine immunisation almost eliminated measles globally, averting more than 60 million deaths during 2000–23. However, measles outbreaks are on the rise, with 57 countries around the world disrupted by outbreaks, including the US, which recently recorded its first death from the disease in over a decade.91011 The recent outbreaks of polio in places such as Afghanistan, Gaza, and Pakistan are stark reminders of why we need to boost global health security efforts.12 Globally, around 21 million children—primarily in fragile settings—still have not received all the recommended vaccines, and 14.5 million have never received a single dose of any vaccine.8

Investing in global health is not just a moral imperative but also a strategic and economic necessity. Firstly, ensuring that underserved communities are immunised is critical to preventing outbreaks that threaten both regional and global health security.

Secondly, the return on investment is irrefutable. Studies estimate that vaccinations delivered between 2001 and 2020 for 10 vaccine preventable diseases across 73 low and middle income countries supported by Gavi—including several countries on the IRC watchlist—generated economic and social benefits worth $820 bn.1314

While the UK government faces complex challenges in an increasingly unstable world, its aid budget has long been recognised for delivering high impact, cost effective solutions to people in greatest need. The UK’s health investments have tackled urgent needs in some of the world’s most challenging contexts, with the children’s immunisation programme standing out as a success story among other shrewd aid interventions.

For years, the UK’s aid budget has been a cornerstone of its foreign policy, mitigating the fallout from humanitarian crises and improving health outcomes worldwide. In a world where conflict and climate change are amplifying the spread of infectious diseases and health threats from new unknown diseases continue to arise, we should be increasing our efforts to consolidate global health security, not scaling them back.