By KT Reporter
A historic funding crisis is threatening to unravel decades of progress unless countries can make radical shifts to HIV programming and funding says a new report.
The UNAIDS global AIDS Update 2025 report released highlights the impact that the sudden, large-scale funding cuts from international donors are having on countries most affected by HIV.
The report will part of the discussions at the ahead of the the 13th International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference o currently taking place in Kigali Rwanda.
UNAIDS Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima in her forward to the report noted that it shows that at the end of 2024, just before a sudden collapse in funding triggered a crisis in the global AIDS response, the remarkable efforts of communities and governments had brought down the numbers of new HIV infections by 40% and of AIDS-related deaths by 56% since 2010.
“But it also shows that huge gaps in HIV prevention remained, with 1.3 million new infections in 2024—almost unchanged from the year before” said Byanyima.
Byanyima noted that those involved in HIV/AIDs prevention started 2025 excited about a transformative opportunity to tackle HIV with lenacapavir, a new long-acting medicine that can prevent HIV infection with twice-a-year injections but the sudden withdrawal of the single biggest contributor to the global HIV response disrupted treatment and prevention programmes around the world.
According to UNAIDS, international assistance accounts for 80% of prevention programmes in low- and middle-income countries.
“UNAIDS modelling shows that if the funding permanently disappears, there could be an additional 6 million HIV infections and an additional 4 million AIDS-related deaths by 2029” she warns.
A systemic shock is rocking the HIV response
The report says HIV programmes across the world are struggling from the sudden, drastic reductions in funding for the global HIV response announced by the United States Government in early 2025. PEPFAR had committed USD 4.3 billion in bilateral support in 2025.
“Those services were stopped overnight when the United States Government shifted its foreign assistance strategies. Disruptions are being felt across the HIV response and pose a huge risk of increased mortality, a surge of new HIV infections, and the development of resistance to the most commonly used treatment regimens. Urgent action and revived solidarity are needed to sustain the progress made and prevent a resurgence of HIV” read part of the report. It says the current wave of funding losses has already destabilized supply chains, led to the closure of health facilities, left thousands of health clinics without staff, set back prevention programmes, disrupted HIV testing efforts, and forced many community organizations to reduce or halt their HIV activities, upending critical community systems.
There is a fear that other major donor countries might retreat from the solidarity they have established with poorer countries to respond to one of the deadliest pandemics in modern history.
“If this happens, and the current cuts and freezes are maintained, decades of progress in the HIV response could be reversed and the goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat could be in peril.
The report says the PEPFAR programme has been a lifeline for countries with high HIV burdens.
PEPFAR reportedly supported HIV testing for 84.1 million people and HIV treatment for 20.6 million people, reached 2.3 million adolescent girls and young women with HIV prevention services, and directly supported more than 340 000 health workers in 2024.
This support has been severely cut back.
The impact is rippling across dozens of countries and damaging vital parts of their HIV responses. HIV prevention is especially at risk, since prevention funding in many countries has come from external sources and is often not prioritized by countries.
External funding financed almost 80% of HIV prevention in sub-Saharan Africa, 66% in the Caribbean and 60% in the Middle East and North Africa.
The number of lives lost to AIDS-related causes in 2024—630 000 [490 000– 820 000]—was unacceptably high, but it was 54% less than in 2010, an achievement made possible by the large-scale provision of mostly free-of-charge HIV testing services and treatment.
The number of AIDS-related deaths among children was reduced from 240 000 in 2010 to 75 000 in 2024.
Globally in 2024, about three-quarters of the 40.8 million [37.0 million–45.6 million] people living with HIV were receiving antiretroviral therapy (77% [62–90%]) and (73% [66–82%]) had suppressed viral loads—a huge public health achievement.
In sub-Saharan Africa, which is home to more than 60% of all people living with HIV, the provision of antiretroviral therapy, among other advances, has led to a rebound in life expectancy from 56.5 years in 2010 to 62.3 years in 2024-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
