The United Nations AIDS agency, UNAIDS, has warned of the catastrophic human cost if the United States pulls funding for HIV and AIDS programmes.
The global organisation disclosed that over six million people could die from HIV and AIDS in the space of four years if the President Donald Trump’s administration goes ahead with the plan to halt funding.
The Deputy Executive Director of UNAIDS, Christine Stegling, made the disclosure while addressing reporters in Geneva on Friday.
He stated that although HIV/AIDS programmes have been exempted from last month’s US foreign aid funding freeze, concerns still linger about the future of treatment programmes.
“There is a lot of confusion, especially on the community level, how the waiver will be implemented. We’re seeing a lot of disruption of delivery of treatment services,” Stegling said.
Recall that Trump put hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of foreign aid donations on hold for 90 days upon taking office on January 20.
However, in the following days, the US State Department issued a waiver on the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, PEPFAR, the world’s leading HIV initiative, for life-saving humanitarian assistance.
While welcoming the waiver, Stegling stressed the situation remains unsettling.
Amid a broader decline of funding, Stegling warned there would be a 400% increase in AIDS deaths if PEPFAR financial support is not re-authorized between 2025 and 2029.
“That’s 6.3 million people, 6.3 million AIDS-related deaths that will occur in future…Any penny, any cut, any pause, will matter for all of us.
“In Ethiopia, we have 5,000 public health worker contracts that are funded by U.S. assistance. And all of these have been terminated,” she said, urging UN member states to step in.
She also highlighted that community clinics were facing the biggest interruption as they are entirely dependent on US government funding.
She expressed concern that some people may not come forward for treatment, which could in turn increase new HIV infections.
