TORONTO, ON — July 30, 2025 — The Stephen Lewis Foundation (SLF) is among 13 leading Canadian humanitarian organizations to receive $1M each to address devastating impacts of U.S. international funding cuts.
This emergency support from The Slaight Family Foundation that will help sustain nine SLF partners in eastern and southern Africa to protect progress against AIDS.
The Stephen Lewis Foundation (SLF) will receive $1 million in emergency support from The Slaight Family Foundation to help mitigate the impacts of the Trump administration’s abrupt cuts to international aid directed to the global HIV response.
“The funding losses are threatening the progress that has been made in ending AIDS,” says Meg French, SLF executive director. “The devastating cuts to U.S. global health and HIV funding have sent shockwaves through the sector. Life-saving programs led by community organizations are in jeopardy. We are immensely grateful for The Slaight Family Foundation’s emergency funding, which will help sustain nine community-led organizations that provide vital HIV-related services across eastern and southern Africa.”
This emergency grant will allow SLF partner organizations in Botswana, Eswatini, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe to continue delivering critical services, including education and sexual health and rights programming for adolescent girls, support for survivors of gender-based violence, and critical staffing and mental health supports for frontline workers in communities impacted by HIV.
All SLF partners are impacted by international funding cuts, either through the loss of direct funding, or due to substantially increased demand for their services resulting from the closure of services by other organizations in their communities, especially those that uphold the rights and health of women and girls. The cuts have exposed the fragility of current funding systems and underscore the need for a bold, collective response that puts communities, not politics, at the centre of the HIV response.
“We hope this funding will help sustain access to health care, food, education and protection for the world’s most vulnerable,” said Gary Slaight, President and CEO of The Slaight Family Foundation.
In addition to the Stephen Lewis Foundation, The Slaight Family Foundation’s NGO Initiative recipients are: Canadian Red Cross, Crossroads International, The Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security, Human Rights Watch, Kinvia, Partners in Health, Right to Play, Save the Children, UNHCR, UNICEF Canada, War Child and World Vision.
About the Stephen Lewis Foundation
For more than 20 years, the Stephen Lewis Foundation has championed health and human rights to end AIDS. The HIV epidemic remains a public health emergency in Africa fuelled by racism, gender inequality and colonialism. Committed to community-led solutions, we provide funding and allyship to 98 local organizations across 14 countries who are restoring hope, reclaiming human rights, fighting injustice and saving lives. Learn more about the Stephen Lewis Foundation at stephenlewisfoundation.org.
About The Slaight Family Foundation
The Slaight Family Foundation was established in 2008 by John Allan Slaight. Allan Slaight (1931–2021), known as Canada’s broadcast pioneer, was a leader in the music industry and a prominent Canadian philanthropist. Through his generosity, the Foundation proactively supports charitable initiatives in the areas of healthcare, at-risk youth international development, social services and culture. Allan’s son, Gary Slaight, oversees the foundation as President and CEO, The Slaight Family Foundation.
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Media contact:
Beth Bowers
Deputy Director, Communications and Marketing
Stephen Lewis Foundation
media@stephenlewisfoundation.org
