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IAS president Beatriz Grinsztejn, UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima, Erika Castellanos, executive director of the Global Action for Trans Equality, Dr Joe Phaahla, South Africa\u2019s Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Jarbas Barbosa, Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and Dr Mari\u00e2ngela Simao, Brazil\u2019s Secretary of Health and Environmental Surveillance.<\/p>\n
RIO DE JANEIRO \u2013 Donor funding for HIV dropped by 25% in 2025 \u2013 a staggering drop of $2.1 billion \u2013 driven by the United States slashing its funding, according to analyses by KFF<\/a> and the Joint UN Programme on HIV\/AIDS (UNAIDS<\/a>).\u00a0<\/p>\n This is the largest single-year drop ever, reducing funds to 2007 levels, according to the reports released shortly before the opening of the International AIDS Conference on Monday.<\/p>\n In 2025, US disbursements for HIV totalled $4.6 billion, down from $6.7 billion in 2024.<\/p>\n Although spending from HIV\u2019s other key donors remained steady in 2025 (at $1.6 billion), they had already halved their aid since 2011 ($3.2 billion).\u00a0<\/p>\n The US remains the largest HIV donor to HIV in the world, and its total donor government funding for HIV has risen from 59% in 2011 to 74% in 2025 in the face of other donors\u2019 retreating commitments.\u00a0<\/p>\n France, the UK, Japan, and Germany are the other major HIV donors. However, when ranked by their contributions in relation to GDP, the Netherlands ranks first, followed by the US, Denmark, Norway, and France.<\/p>\n Impact on prevention<\/p>\n Forty-one million people were living with HIV in 2025, 1.2 million of whom were infected that year.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery day, around 3,400 people acquire HIV around the world. Every day, around 1,600 people die from AIDS-related illnesses. The HIV pandemic is not over. Without urgent action, it could resurge,\u201d Byanyima warned.\u00a0<\/p>\n The funding cuts also threaten global 2030 targets \u2013 particularly to reduce HIV infections by 90% in comparison to 2010 levels.<\/p>\n The impact has been felt across all programmes, but prevention services have been particularly badly affected.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) programmes, antireviral medicine taken to prevent HIV transmission, and condom purchases \u201cdeclined drastically and suddenly between 2024 and 2025 in some countries\u201d, according to UNAIDS.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIn countries with a high level of HIV, funding for condom programming declined by 93%, and funding for programmes that ensure people can reach prevention services (eg supportive laws, regulations and policy environments) reduced by 80%,\u201d said UNAIDS.<\/p>\n In Cameroon, Nigeria and Zambia, the number of people receiving PrEP declined by more than 50%.\u00a0<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a new study estimates that over 75,000 people will become infected with HIV within a year as a consequence of full withdrawal of the US President\u2019s Emergency Plan to Fund AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and no additional government or international support. Zimbabwe has been unable to reach agreement with the US on new HIV funding.<\/p>\n \u201cEfforts to reach the 2030 targets are threatened by converging crises, including declines in external financing, high debt burden in the countries most affected by HIV, a growing number of humanitarian crises and displacements globally, emerging epidemics such as Ebola, and a backsliding on human rights and gender equality, which all impact HIV services,\u201d according to UNAIDS.<\/p>\n Domestic funding is not enough<\/p>\n UNAIDS indicates that around 60% of the HIV response is now funded by domestic resources.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dr Joe Phaahla, South Africa\u2019s Deputy Minister of Health, said that African countries were continuing to strengthen domestic investment.<\/p>\n However, Phaahla warned that the 25% cut in a single year had forced African governments \u201cto make very difficult prioritisation decisions at a very high speed\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The cuts have affected \u201cthe availability of medicines, commodities, pre-exposure prophylaxis and treatment commodities, and community health workers, surveillance and data systems\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n \u201cNo country can replace the scale of international partnership that has driven the global HIV response for decades,\u201d warned Phaahla. \u201cEnding the HIV pandemic will require stronger domestic financing, sustained international support and shared responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n Decades of progress in jeopardy The funding cuts threaten decades of progress, Bwanyima warned.<\/p>\n \u201cSince the peak of HIV, new infections have fallen by 65% and AIDS-related deaths have fallen by 73%. More than 28.5 million lives have been saved through antiretroviral treatment. Today, 32.1 million people are receiving life-saving treatment, the highest number in history,\u201d said Byanyima. \u201cThis is one of the greatest public health achievements of our lifetime. But let\u2019s be clear: progress is not the same as victory.<\/p>\n \u201cLast year, 1.2 million people acquired HIV, 570,000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses, and 8.9 million people with HIV are without life-saving treatment, and nearly 45% of children living with HIV are still not on treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), described progress against HIV as \u201cfragile\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have the tools, the knowledge and the evidence to save lives and prevent new acquisitions. The challenge now is to sustain the commitment, investment and solidarity needed to reach every person who needs prevention, testing, treatment and care, and to finish the job,\u201d said Tedros.<\/p>\n Swing to the right Dr Mari\u00e2ngela Simao, Brazil\u2019s Secretary of Health and Environmental Surveillance, said the funding crisis was partly due to the \u201cincreasingly conservative world\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe are seeing that conservative ways tend to criminalise or punish people that are different, [and] create problems for access to the treatment people deserve. The human health to right the right to health is a human right,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Erika Castellanos, executive director of the Global Action for Trans Equality (GATE), who has been living with HIV since 1995, supported Simao.<\/p>\n \u201cI have watched medicines transform HIV from a death sentence into a manageable health condition, but I have also watched people die while those medicines existed,\u201d said \\ Castellanos.<\/p>\n \u201cI have watched many of my friends die while those medicines existed. Science did not fail my friends. Science did not fail those people. Politics did. Survival is determined by a healthcare system recognising our humanity, a government considering our lives worth protecting, and a world that is willing to pay the cost of keeping us alive.\u201d<\/p>\n End of UNAIDS?<\/p>\n UNAIDS itself faces an uncertain future amid a United Nations-wide funding crisis. As part of his UN80 reform plan, the UN Secretary-General has proposed \u201csunsetting\u201d the programme by the end of this year and \u201cmainstreaming capacity and expertise into relevant entities of the United Nations development system in 2027\u201d.<\/p>\n However, International AIDS Society (IAS) president Dr Beatriz Grinsztejn said that losing UNAIDS would be a \u201cbig mess\u201d, particularly for tracking data on HIV.<\/p>\n Grinsztejn acknowledged that UNAIDS would likely need to scale back further, but \u201cwe do need UNAIDS to stay in place, and we hope that this can be the final decision\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe already have a big issue that most of the systems are not in place anymore for us to understand the numbers: the number of infections, the number of deaths, the number of people on treatment and on prevention.\u201d<\/p>\n UNAIDS has already slashed staff by around 55%, and its Geneva head office has been massively reduced.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-26-at-15.34.56-1024x558.png\")
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This HIV treatment centre in Bahir Dar in Ethiopia has closed as a result of funding cuts.<\/p>\n
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Dr Mari\u00e2ngela Simao, Brazil\u2019s Secretary of Health and Environmental Surveillance.<\/p>\n