U.S. aid cuts threaten progress in AIDS fight, UN says

The halt in US foreign aid threatens to “reverse” gains made in decades of global efforts to contain the AIDS pandemic, the UN said on Thursday (10).

Nearly 31.6 million people were taking antiretroviral drugs in 2024, and deaths from HIV-related illnesses have fallen by more than half since 2010, according to a new UNAIDS report.

However, cases are likely to rise as US funding cuts have led to the closure of prevention and treatment programs.

The United States has historically been the world's largest donor of international aid, but the sudden cutoff ordered by President Donald Trump in February has put humanitarian efforts at risk.

"We are proud of the achievements, but we fear that the sudden halt will reverse the progress we have made," UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima told AFP ahead of the report's launch in Johannesburg.

The UN agency warned in April that permanently suspending PEPFAR, the US aid program to combat AIDS, would lead to more than 6 million new infections and 4.2 million additional deaths related to the disease over the next four years.

If that happens, the pandemic would return to levels not seen since the early 2000s.

“This is not just a funding gap, but a ticking time bomb,” the effects of which are already being felt around the world, Byanyima said in a statement.

More than 60% of all women-led HIV organizations surveyed by UNAIDS have lost funding or had to suspend their services, the report found.

In Nigeria, for example, the number of people receiving the transmission-preventing medication PrEP fell by more than 85% in the first few months of 2025.

"The story of how the world came together" to fight AIDS is "one of the most important stories of progress in global health," the UNAIDS representative told AFP.

"But that great story was cut short" by Trump's "unprecedented" and "cruel" measure, he added, adding that life-saving aid should not be withdrawn "just like that."

Crucial medical research into prevention and treatment has also been suspended, much of it in South Africa, which has one of the highest infection rates in the world and has emerged as a leader in global research.

In only 25 of the 60 low- and middle-income countries surveyed by UNAIDS, governments have found ways to make up part of the funding gap with their own resources.

"There is no doubt that the investment was worthwhile, and continues to be. It saves lives," Byaniyma concluded, urging debt reduction and reform of international financial institutions to "free up the fiscal space needed for developing countries to fund their own response."

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