"Aid cuts in east Africa have led to cases of babies being born with HIV because mothers could not get medication, a rise in life-threatening infections, and at least one woman having an unwanted abortion, according to interviews with medical staff, patients and experts. A report by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) sets out dozens of examples of the impact of disruption to Pepfar the president's emergency plan for aids relief in Tanzania and Uganda."
"The report is based on interviews with 39 doctors, nurses, people living with HIV, service providers and other experts. It focuses on the first 100 days after Pepfar-funded programmes were instructed to stop work as part of a US government freeze on foreign aid. Health workers reported shortages of drugs to control the virus, resulting in increased serious infections in people living with HIV and children being born with the virus because mothers could not get medication to prevent it being passed on."
Interviews with 39 doctors, nurses, people living with HIV, service providers and experts documented widespread harms following a stop-work order on Pepfar-funded programmes. In the first 100 days, clinics faced drug shortages that prevented mothers from receiving antiretrovirals, produced newborn HIV infections, increased life-threatening opportunistic infections, and led one woman to an unwanted abortion. Patients skipped doses to conserve supply, heightening the risk of drug resistance. Some programmes later resumed activities, but funding remained uncertain as the US administration withheld about half of the $6bn allocated by Congress for Pepfar in fiscal 2025, threatening stability of services in Tanzania and Uganda.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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