In the wake of massive U.S. cuts in foreign aid as well as tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump’s administration, the small southern African country of Lesotho faces deep uncertainty over its fight to end the HIV epidemic and its economy.
Lesotho long had the world’s second-highest HIV infection rate. Over years, with nearly $1 billion in U.S. aid, Lesotho patched together a health network efficient enough to slow the epidemic’s spread. But when Trump froze foreign assistance and dismantled USAID, chaos and confusion ensued in the country known as the “kingdom in the sky.”
