This Week in Global Development4 Dec 2025

Impact of HIV funding cuts, and the rise of digital public infrastructure

We dig into the details of a new report published by UNAIDS, which found that donor funding cuts to the HIV response could lead to an additional 3.9 million new infections over the next five years, even if treatment coverage is maintained. The report, published on World AIDS Day 2025, called on governments to uphold human rights and urged funders to dedicate more resources to HIV prevention, including the highly effective twice-yearly injectable, lenacapavir.

Last week, the U.S. State Department announced a grant of up to $150 million to drone company Zipline to expand health supply operations in five African countries. We highlight how this decision could signal the Trump administration’s new approach to global health aid.

We also unpack how digital public infrastructure, or DPI, is becoming a vital development tool, and contemplate whether it can offer a more collaborative, cost-effective approach, especially given the recent cuts to foreign assistance.

To explore these stories, and others, Senior Reporter Adva Saldinger sits down with Senior Editor for Special Coverage Catherine Cheney and Senior Reporter Jenny Lei Ravelo to discuss the top global development stories of the week.

During the sponsored segment of This week in global development, brought to you by Pivotal, Catherine sits down with Action for Women’s Health grantee Lisel Lifshitz Gudiño, who is also the executive director of Mujeres Aliadas. Her leadership champions the midwifery practice, ensuring the delivery of safe, dignified, and culturally sensitive health care. Learn more about the awardees and explore the content series.

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The fight over $7.5B in expiring aid and a rejected State Department grant

We recently reported that roughly $7.5 billion in international affairs funding is set to expire by the end of this month. In a letter, more than 100 U.S. lawmakers have urged the State Department to ...

3 Sep 26min

The water sector’s funding challenge and Asia’s philanthropy push

At World Water Week in Stockholm, financing took center stage ahead of the U.N. Water Conference in Abu Dhabi this December. The annual gathering saw around 2,000 participants discuss water governance...

27 Aug 30min

Special edition: Rethinking the housing crisis

What if housing finance could help solve today's biggest challenges? In this special episode, Habitat for Humanity’s Jacqueline Innocent reveals why housing is an upstream catalyst for health, educati...

25 Aug 27min

Famine reporting goes dark in 3 crisis zones, and COP31’s critical test

Afghanistan, Somalia, and Yemen, three of the world’s most hunger-prone nations, were removed from the latest reporting by the Famine Early Warning Systems Network — a U.S.-based data and monitoring s...

20 Aug 28min

Inside the State Department’s historic pivot to faith-based organizations

In this episode of This Week in Global Development, Business Editor David Ainsworth sits down with Senior Reporters Michael Igoe and Sara Jerving to discuss the U.S. State Department’s announcement to...

13 Aug 29min

Special edition: Are jobs for youth development's silver bullet?

In this week’s special edition episode of the This Week in Global Development podcast, sponsored by the International Youth Foundation and the Caterpillar Foundation, we examine how shifting labor mar...

12 Aug 41min

Tracking the real-world impacts of US foreign aid cuts

This week, we discuss The Aid Report, a project supported by a media grant from the Gates Foundation to track the real-world impacts of U.S. foreign aid cuts. Over the past couple of months, the initi...

29 Juli 36min

The new era of US and European foreign assistance

This week we look back at the last 18 months of U.S. foreign assistance — a period defined by the dismantling of USAID and the absorption of foreign aid strategy into the State Department. We break do...

22 Juli 30min