The United States is restructuring how it delivers life-saving medical supplies for HIV and malaria to low-income countries, a shift that officials and health experts warn could disrupt treatment access across parts of Africa and Asia.

The changes centre on winding down the Global Health Supply Chain Program – Procurement and Supply Management, a U.S.-funded initiative run by Chemonics, which has coordinated the delivery of critical medicines and prevention tools since 2016. According to internal communications and multiple sources familiar with the matter, U.S. officials have been instructed to begin halting implementation of the programme by May 30.

From its inception through 2024, the programme distributed more than $5 billion worth of HIV and malaria-related commodities to 90 countries, with a primary focus on sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia. The supplies included antiretroviral drugs, malaria treatments and insecticide-treated bed nets, forming a key component of global disease control efforts.The restructuring follows broader changes to U.S.

foreign aid policy under the administration of Donald Trump, which has prioritised reducing reliance on contractors, cutting budgets and shifting toward direct agreements with recipient governments. The overhaul also comes after the dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development, which had previously overseen much of Washington’s development assistance.

Five sources familiar with the transition said the pace of the changes risks creating supply gaps for essential medicines, particularly in countries with fragile health systems. An internal email reviewed by Reuters warned that accelerating the transition without a clear implementation plan could jeopardise continuity of services.

The communication, sent by the U.S. State Department to staff in 17 African countries and Haiti, directed country teams to prepare for the end of programme operations while outlining potential risks. It did not provide a detailed roadmap for replacement mechanisms, instead asking local offices to identify vulnerabilities and report back to Washington.

A State Department spokesperson said the agency had not issued technical instructions for Chemonics to cease operations by May 30, though the contract is set to expire on September 30 in line with other USAID awards. The official end date is listed as November.

The uncertainty has revived concerns stemming from earlier disruptions. In January last year, a freeze on international aid left millions of dollars’ worth of medical supplies stranded in ports and warehouses worldwide, including HIV drugs and malaria prevention tools. Distribution resumed only after waivers were granted for life-saving interventions.

Six sources said the United States has been in discussions with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria about potentially using its procurement and distribution systems to replace the existing programme. The Geneva-based institution already manages approximately $2 billion in annual purchases for HIV, tuberculosis and malaria programmes through partnerships with national governments and implementing agencies.

However, two sources said earlier plans had envisaged a transition timeline extending to November 2027, allowing sufficient time for procurement cycles and logistical adjustments. Compressing this timeline into a matter of months could create operational bottlenecks, they said, noting that delivering medical supplies to remote areas can take up to a year from order to distribution.

The Global Fund declined to comment on the discussions. The State Department did not directly confirm the talks but said it would rely on pooled procurement mechanisms to secure supplies at competitive prices from private manufacturers.The policy shift is part of a broader “America First” approach to global health funding, which aims to reduce what officials describe as inefficiencies in the existing system.

A strategy document released in September argued that contractor-led programmes had contributed to waste and inflated costs, and emphasised direct funding for frontline services and national governments.

Under the new approach, Washington has signed 28 bilateral health agreements with partner countries and is increasingly channeling funds directly to national authorities. It also plans to use private logistics firms to handle distribution rather than relying on large development contractors.

Recent agreements with countries such as Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda include commitments to increase domestic health spending alongside U.S. funding. However, implementation has encountered obstacles. In Kenya, a proposed deal faces legal challenges from activists concerned about data privacy, while negotiations with Zambia have been delayed as officials seek to safeguard national interests.

Health experts and aid practitioners say the transition risks compounding existing vulnerabilities in global disease control programmes. Previous disruptions linked to funding changes have already contributed to shortages of malaria treatments for children and gaps in HIV prevention services in several countries.

The State Department defended the overhaul, describing the current system as outdated and inefficient. A spokesperson said the new model would prioritise value for American taxpayers while maintaining support for critical health interventions.

Despite those assurances, several sources involved in programme delivery said the lack of a detailed transition plan remains a central concern. They warned that without clear coordination between donors, governments and implementing partners, the shift could interrupt supply chains that millions depend on for survival.

Singapore (Reuters) – Uganda National Oil Co (UNOC) expects to start oil production from the Tilenga project in the first half of 2025, the company’s CEO said on Wednesday.

“The drill kits have been put up and the drilling has started,” Uganda National Oil Co CEO Proscovia Nabbanja told Reuters on the sidelines of an Energy Asia conference.

“We are on track for first oil in H1 2025.”

The Tilenga project, in the Buliisa and Nwoya districts in Uganda’s Lake Albert oilfields, is operated by French energy major TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) in partnership with China’s CNOOC Ltd (0883.HK) and UNOC.

Oil from the Tilenga project will be transported via the $3.5 billion East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) to the port of Tanga in Tanzania for export.

The EACOP has the capacity to send up to 246,000 barrels of crude per day out to world markets by as early as 2025.

TotalEnergies is the largest shareholder in EACOP with a 62% stake. Other investors include the state-run UNOC and Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation, which have 15% each, while China’s CNOOC holds 8%.

This week, five activist groups have sued TotalEnergies for a second time over the Tilenga and EACOP projects, accusing the energy company of failing to protect people and the environment.

Kampala (AP) — A bereaved Ugandan border town on Sunday began burying the victims of a brutal attack on a school by suspected extremist rebels that left 42 people dead, most of them students, as security forces stepped up patrols along the frontier with volatile eastern Congo.

One of eight people wounded in Friday night’s attack, in which 38 students were killed, died overnight, said Selevest Mapoze, mayor of the town of Mpondwe-Lhubiriha.

“Most of the relatives have come to take their bodies” from the morgue, he said.

In addition to the 38 students, the victims include a school guard and three civilians. At least two of them, members of the same family, were buried Sunday.

Some students were burned beyond recognition; others were shot or hacked to death after militants armed with guns and machetes attacked Lhubiriha Secondary School, co-ed and privately owned, which is located about 2 kilometers (just over a mile) from the Congo border. Ugandan authorities believe at least six students were abducted, taken as porters back inside Congo.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the attack in a statement, urging “the importance of collective efforts, including through enhanced regional partnerships, to tackle cross-border insecurity between (Congo) and Uganda and restore durable peace in the area.”

The atmosphere in Mpondwe-Lhubiriha was tense but calm Sunday as Ugandan security forces roamed the streets outside and near the school, which was protected by a police cordon.

The attack is blamed on the Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF, which rarely claims responsibility for attacks. It has established ties with the Islamic State group.

In a statement on Sunday, his first comment on the incident, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni described the attack as “criminal, desperate, terrorist and futile,” vowing to deploy more troops on the Ugandan side of the border.

The ADF has been accused of launching many attacks in recent years targeting civilians in remote parts of eastern Congo, including one in March in which 19 people were killed.

The ADF has long opposed the rule of Museveni, a U.S. security ally who has held power in this East African country since 1986.

The group was established in the early 1990s by some Ugandan Muslims, who said they had been sidelined by Museveni’s policies. At the time, the rebels staged deadly attacks in Ugandan villages as well as in the capital, including a 1998 attack in which 80 students were massacred in a town not far from Friday’s raid.

The attack followed the same playbook: violence against students. The attackers targeted two dormitories, using extreme force when the boys resisted, according to Ugandan officials.

“This terrorist group couldn’t enter, so they threw in a bomb, they threw in a petrol bomb,” said Education Minister Janet Museveni, who also is Uganda’s first lady. “So, these children were burnt.”

Students have been attacked because schools are considered soft targets. Pupils are sometimes recruited into rebels ranks or used to carry food and supplies for insurgents, and such raids provide media coverage coveted by extremists.

The raid appears to have taken Ugandan authorities by surprise: first responders arrived after the attackers had left.

Some villagers have temporarily moved away from the Mpondwe-Lhubiriha community, fearing more attacks, Mapoze said.

The border is porous, with multiple footpaths not monitored by authorities. Many parts of eastern Congo are lawless, allowing groups like the ADF to operate because the central government in Kinshasa, the capital, has limited authority there.

But attacks by the ADF on the Ugandan side of the border are rare, thanks in part to the presence of an alpine brigade of Ugandan troops in the region. Ugandan forces have been deployed to eastern Congo since 2021 under a military operation to hunt ADF militants down and stop them from attacking civilians across the border.

The deployment of Ugandan troops inside Congo followed attacks in which at least four civilians were killed when suicide bombers believed to be members of the ADF detonated their explosives at two locations in Kampala, the capital, in November 2021. One attack happened near the Parliament building and the second near a busy police station.

Military pressure on the rebels deep inside Congolese territory had forced them to splinter into smaller groups such as the one that attacked the school, aiming to “force us to withdraw our Army to defend the Uganda villages and that would save them from the losses they are now suffering,” according to President Museveni.

“Especially now that the Congo government allowed us to operate on the Congo side also, we have no excuse in not hunting down the ADF terrorists into extinction,” he said.

Kampala (AP) — A bereaved Ugandan border town on Sunday prepared to bury victims of a brutal attack by suspected extremist rebels on a school that left 42 dead, most of them students, as security forces stepped up patrols along the frontier with volatile eastern Congo.

One of eight people wounded in Friday night’s attack, in which 38 students were killed, died overnight, said Mpondwe-Lhubiriha Mayor Selevest Mapoze.

“Most of the relatives have come to take their bodies” from the morgue, he said.

Some students were burned beyond recognition, and others were shot or hacked to death after militants armed with guns and machetes attacked Lhubiriha Secondary School, co-ed and privately owned, which is located about 2 kilometers (just over a mile) from the Congo border. Ugandan authorities believe at least six students were abducted, taken as porters back inside Congo.

In addition to the 38 students, the victims include a school guard and three civilians.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the attack in a statement, urging “the importance of collective efforts, including through enhanced regional partnerships, to tackle cross-border insecurity between (Congo) and Uganda and restore durable peace in the area.”

The atmosphere in Mpondwe-Lhubiriha was tense but calm Sunday as Ugandan security forces roamed the streets outside and near the school, which was protected by a police cordon.

Ugandan security forces have not given a detailed account of how the rebels, active in eastern Congo, were able to carry out the attack. The group, known as the Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF, rarely claims responsibility for attacks. It has established ties with the Islamic State group.

The ADF has been accused of launching many attacks in recent years targeting civilians in remote parts of eastern Congo, including one in March in which 19 people were killed.

The ADF has long opposed the rule of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, a U.S. security ally who has held power in this East African country since 1986.

The group was established in the early 1990s by some Ugandan Muslims, who said they had been sidelined by Museveni’s policies. At the time, the rebels staged deadly attacks in Ugandan villages as well as in the capital, including a 1998 attack in which 80 students were massacred in a town not far from Friday’s raid.

The attack followed the same playbook: violence against students. The attackers targeted two dormitories, using extreme force when the boys resisted, according to Ugandan officials.

“This terrorist group couldn’t enter, so they threw in a bomb, they threw in a petrol bomb,” said Education Minister Janet Museveni, who also is Uganda’s first lady. “So, these children were burnt.”

Students have been attacked because schools are considered soft targets, pupils are sometimes recruited into rebels ranks or used to carry food and supplies for insurgents, and such raids provide media coverage coveted by extremists.

The raid appears to have taken Ugandan authorities by surprise, and first responders arrived after the attackers had left.

Some villagers have temporarily moved away from the Mpondwe-Lhubiriha community, fearing more attacks, Mapoze said.

The border is porous, with multiple footpaths not monitored by authorities. Many parts of eastern Congo are lawless, allowing groups like the ADF to operate because the central government in Kinshasa, the capital, has limited authority there.

But attacks by the ADF on the Ugandan side of the border are rare, thanks in part to the presence of an alpine brigade of Ugandan troops in the region. Ugandan forces have been deployed to eastern Congo since 2021 under a military operation to hunt ADF militants down and stop them from attacking civilians across the border.

The deployment of Ugandan troops inside Congo followed attacks in which at least four civilians were killed when suicide bombers believed to be members of the ADF detonated their explosives at two locations in Kampala, the capital, in November 2021. One attack happened near the Parliament building and the second near a busy police station.

Members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan group based in eastern Congo that has pledged allegiance to Islamic State, attacked Lhubirira secondary school in Mpondwe, burning a dormitory and looting food late on Friday, police said.

“So far 25 bodies have been recovered from the school and transferred to Bwera Hospital. Also recovered are eight victims, who remain in critical condition at Bwera Hospital,” Ugandan police said on Twitter.

Police did not say how many of the dead were school children.

Soldiers were pursuing the attackers who fled towards Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, police added.

In April, the ADF attacked a village in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, killing at least 20 people.

Uganda has sent troops into Congo to help fight the ADF.

Museveni said the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) had since recaptured the base from the Islamist group.

“Our soldiers demonstrated remarkable resilience and reorganized themselves, resulting in the recapture of the base by Tuesday,” the president said.

Al Shabaab fighters had targeted the base early last Friday in Bulamarer, 130 km (80 miles) southwest of the capital Mogadishu.

Museveni said last week that there had been Ugandan casualties but had not given further details about the attack on the troops, who are serving in the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS).

Al Shabaab, which has said it carried out suicide bomb attacks and killed 137 soldiers at the base, has been fighting since 2006 to replace Somalia’s Western-backed government with its own rule based on a strict interpretation of Islamic law.

Doha – Qatar has been operating a weapons funding network from Europe to Hezbollah using gold shipments traded across Africa, according to a latest report by an Austrian-based think-tank group Mena-Watch.

Qatari officials coordinated the payments and offered protection for Doha-based Hezbollah financiers, according to the report released by Mena-Watch last Tuesday.

“General Dahlan al-Hamad used gold from Uganda to fund this arms trade,” Mena-Watch’s report cited a dossier from a former Western intelligence official Jason G. who spent more than 16 years investigating terror in the Middle East.

General Dahlan al-Hamad is currently the president of the Asian Athletics Association as well as the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) vice-president and the president of Qatar Athletics.

The western intelligence official Jason G., was directly interviewed by Mena-Watch, who has been leaking evidence that the Qatari regime was aware of Qatari groups funding Hezbollah — which is a designated terrorist organization by the countries like US and Germany.

Austria’s Die Presse magazine quoted Jason G. earlier this month that, Qatar has paid over half a billion dollars for the Houthi drone attacks against Saudi Arabia, and it has also financed Hezbollah and Muslim Brotherhood terror groups.

“With the knowledge of influential government officials, donations were generated by charities in Doha,” added Jason G.

The intelligence source highlighted the Qatari charity organizations like Qatar Charity, Sheikh Eid Charity and other Doha-based charity groups, who have funneled $500 million of funds to Hezbollah in 2020 alone.

Featured Image Credits: CrystalEyes.com