By Jennifer Rigby
LONDON (Reuters) -Some lifesaving health projects that had their U.S. funding contracts abruptly terminated last week have received letters reversing that decision, two sources familiar with the projects and one of the groups told Reuters.
The aid recipients said the decisions were promising, but their work remains in limbo as funding for their projects from the world’s biggest donor had not yet restarted.
On Thursday last week, the Trump administration cancelled around 90% of contracts funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. State Department, sending shockwaves across the global aid community.
Michael Adekunle Charles, chief executive of the RBM Partnership to End Malaria, said his organization’s letter reversing that decision arrived late on Wednesday.
“I think it’s good news. We need to wait in the coming days to get additional guidance,” he said. “Our priority is saving lives, so the earlier we can get started to continue saving lives the better.”
However, Charles said that would be difficult unless funding started to flow again. Some U.S. foreign aid contractors and grant recipients will take their fight to get payments restored to a federal judge in the U.S on Thursday.
The U.S. State Department was not immediately availabl for comment.
Other programmes hosted by the U.N. and part-funded by the U.S., including the Stop TB Partnership, also had termination notices reversed this week, two sources close to the groups told Reuters.
Trump ordered a 90-day pause on all U.S. foreign aid on his first day back in office. That action, and ensuing stop-work orders halting USAID operations around the world, have jeopardized the delivery of life-saving food and medical aid, throwing global humanitarian relief efforts into chaos. The administration has also placed most USAID staff on leave and eliminated 1,600 jobs.
Subsequent waivers for some of the work added to the confusion, followed by the terminations last week.
(Reporting by Jennifer Rigby, Editing by William Maclean)
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