How does the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) affect future funding for global health programs? A new article, “Trade Networks Multiply the Global Health Returns to Bilateral Aid,” finds that PEPFAR’s benefits extend beyond the countries receiving direct support. Beyond health outcomes themselves, knowledge about public health can move across borders through global trade networks.

The article finds that for every HIV case PEPFAR averts directly in a recipient country, two to six additional cases are averted in non-recipient countries connected through trade. These benefits are not driven by geographic proximity or migration, but by commercial relationships that can help spread knowledge, training, surveillance systems, and prevention strategies. As authors Leblang and Wesselbaum write, “The benefits of bilateral aid are not bilateral.”

For the Humanitarian Collaborative, this work highlights how health crises and humanitarian responses are shaped by connections across borders. By showing how HIV prevention knowledge can travel through global networks, the article connects public health research to broader humanitarian questions of vulnerability, preparedness, and shared responsibility.

Read the full article here.