PH LGBTQ+ groups seek options to US aid
LoveYourself, a Philippines-based group providing free HIV testing and treatment services, was receiving aid from the United States like many other 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 Jan. 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 the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “All the basic programs that we have are still for free.”
With the resilience of LoveYourself as a model, similar groups in the country 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 percent of foreign aid programs included the supply of drugs for HIV treatment and transmission prevention services in low-income countries, leaving LGBTQ+ organizations and advocates particularly concerned.
HIV epidemic
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 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 percent 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 percent during the same period.
USAID, through a program called the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, has contributed more than $34.7 million to support the Philippines’ HIV response since 2020. In 2024, USAID also approved an obligation of $6.68 million for HIV epidemic control in the Philippines.
‘So sudden’
In addition, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, an international financing organization that had the US government as its single largest donor, has donated about $50 million to the Philippines’ HIV response since 2020.
The United States 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 yearlong funding from USAID to build Tanggap Trans Hub, the first community center 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 center and not incur more costs” just as the community was learning about its existence, he said.
Alea added that the USAID suspension could be a chance to rethink how advocacy groups and the government can work together to deliver lifesaving services. “In a perfect world, we wouldn’t need to depend on international funding,” he said. —THOMSON REUTERS FOUNDATION
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