International funding cuts disrupted global response to HIV, UN report says

"UNAIDS says millions across the world lost access to treatment and preventive care due to financial shortfalls. The United Nations agency for combating AIDS has announced that global funding disruptions for treatment and prevention programmes are leaving millions of people without access to care. In a report released on Tuesday, UNAIDS said the global response to the disease immediately entered crisis mode after the United States halted funding when President Donald Trump took office in January."

"Some of the HIV funding was restored in the second half of the year, but in the wake of Trump's decision to dismantle the US Agency for International Development (USAID), certain programmes have not resumed. UNAIDS said the cuts were compounded by intensifying economic and financial pressures on many low and middle-income countries. The funding shortfalls, it added, are having having profound, lasting effects on the lives of people across the world."

"People living with HIV have died due to service disruptions, millions of people at high risk of acquiring HIV have lost access to the most effective prevention tools available, over 2 million adolescent girls and young women have been deprived of essential health services, and community-led organizations have been devastated, with many being forced to close their doors, the report read."

Global funding disruptions and a suspension of US foreign aid after President Donald Trump took office triggered an immediate crisis in HIV treatment and prevention programmes. Partial restorations of funding occurred later, but dismantling moves at USAID and economic pressures in many low- and middle-income countries prevented full resumption. Service interruptions have led to deaths, deprived over two million adolescent girls and young women of essential services, and forced many community-led organizations to close. Use of preventive HIV medication (PrEP) fell sharply in countries such as Burundi, Uganda and Vietnam, and condom distribution in Nigeria dropped markedly.

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