March 25, 2025 Story by: Editor
The UNAIDS chief has issued a dire warning that US funding cuts will result in 2,000 additional HIV infections daily and over six million more deaths in the next four years.
This setback threatens to undo significant progress in the global fight against HIV, which has seen annual deaths drop from over two million in 2004 to 600,000 in 2023, the latest available data.
Impact of US Funding Cuts
UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima emphasized that the US government’s decision to halt foreign aid, including HIV program funding, is already having devastating effects.
She urged the US to reverse the cuts, noting that women and girls are particularly vulnerable.
In January, President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on foreign aid spending on his first day in office, leading to the termination of most USAID programs. As a result, many US-funded HIV treatment and prevention programs have been shut down, leading to the closure of mother-and-baby clinics in Africa and critical shortages of life-saving antiretroviral (ARV) medications.
Ms. Byanyima expressed concerns that these cuts could push HIV care back to the 1990s, when treatment was scarce in poorer nations, causing infections and deaths to rise sharply.
“The sudden withdrawal of lifesaving support [is] having a devastating impact,” she stated, while acknowledging the US as the largest historical funder of HIV programs and thanking Washington for its past generosity.
No Signs of Reversal
Despite urgent appeals, there is no indication that the US government will reverse its decision.
European donors are also planning reductions, and UNAIDS has not received any commitments from other nations to compensate for the funding shortfall.
Speaking in Geneva, Ms. Byanyima highlighted the story of Juliana, a young mother in Kenya living with HIV. She was employed by a US-funded program that helped new mothers access treatment to prevent HIV transmission to their babies. With the program now suspended, Juliana has lost her job and fears losing her own treatment while still breastfeeding her youngest child.
The World Health Organization (WHO) previously warned that eight countries—Nigeria, Kenya, Lesotho, South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Mali, Haiti, and Ukraine—could soon face HIV drug shortages due to the funding cuts.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus cautioned that disruptions to HIV programs “could undo 20 years of progress.”
In South Africa, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), the country’s leading HIV advocacy group, has raised similar concerns.
“We can’t afford to die, we can’t afford to go back to those years where we were suffering with access to services, especially for people living with HIV treatment,” said TAC chair Sibongile Tshabalala.
Proposed US Partnership on HIV Treatment
As a potential solution, Ms. Byanyima proposed a deal to the Trump administration involving the rollout of Lenacapavir, a US-developed ARV medication made by Gilead.
Administered as an injection every six months, Lenacapavir could benefit an estimated 10 million people. Ms. Byanyima highlighted that such a partnership would generate profits and jobs for the US while supporting the global HIV response.
Wider UN Funding Cuts
UNAIDS is just one of several UN agencies affected by budget reductions.
The UN Refugee Agency has warned it may need to cut 6,000 jobs, UNICEF has raised concerns about setbacks in child mortality reduction efforts, and the World Food Programme has had to reduce rations in famine-stricken areas.
With millions of lives at stake, global health leaders continue to push for a reversal of funding cuts to prevent a resurgence of the HIV epidemic.
Source: BBC
