Khaki JJ
Molenaar J
Karki S
Olal E
Straneo M
Mosuse MA
Fouogue JT
Hensen B
Baguiya A
Musau Nkola A
Wong KLM
Ba OA
Kikula A
Grovogui FM
Semaan A
Asefa A
Macharia PM
Chikwari CD
Ouedraogo MO
Christou A
Okiro EA
Mutua MK
Amodu A
Phiri M
Athanase R
Kitara DL
Owolabi O
Pembe AB
Afolabi BB
Benova L
BMC Med. 2025;23241
BACKGROUND: The suspension and/or termination of many programmes funded through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) by the new US administration has severe short- and long-term negative impacts on the health of people worldwide. We draw attention to the termination of the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) Program, which includes nationally representative surveys of households, DHS, Malaria Indicator Surveys [MIS]) and health facilities (Service Provision Assessments [SPA]) in over 90 low- and middle-income countries. USAID co-funding and provision of technical support for these surveys has been shut down. MAIN BODY: The impact of these disruptions will reverberate across local, regional, national, and global levels and severely impact the ability to understand the levels and changes in population health outcomes and behaviours. We highlight three key impacts on (1) ongoing data collection and data processing activities; (2) future data collection and consequent lack of population-level health indicators; and (3) access to existing data and lack of support for its use. CONCLUSIONS: We call for immediate action on multiple fronts. In the short term, universal access to existing data and survey materials should be restored, and surveys which were planned or in progress should be completed. In the long term, this crisis should serve as a tipping point for transforming these vital surveys. We call on national governments, regional organisations, and international partners to develop sustainable alternatives that preserve the principles (standardised questionnaires, backward compatibility, open access data with rigorous documentation) which made the DHS Program an invaluable global health resource.
