<\/p>\n
Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS, warned that the sudden drop in funding is affecting HIV responses \u201clike a shock wave\u201d. Byanyima said global commitment is weakening at a time when expansion is critical.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Byanyima told reporters at UN Headquarters in New York this week that many countries lack the capacity to sustain programmes previously supported by international donors. Byanyima noted that prevention services and support systems are already collapsing in several regions.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
An estimated 9.3 million people living with HIV are still awaiting treatment globally, while 1.3 million new infections were recorded in 2024. Byanyima said the funding crisis is producing \u201creal consequences\u201d across developing countries, where treatment expansion has stalled, and community organisations are shutting down.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In Uganda, uptake of pre-exposure prophylaxis fell by 31% between December 2024 and September 2025. In Burundi, uptake dropped by 64% over the same period. In Nigeria, condom distribution declined by 55% between December 2024 and March 2025, limiting access to basic prevention tools.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Across eight countries supported by UNAIDS, 99.9% of HIV prevention services rely on external funding, with only 0.1% financed domestically. Byanyima highlighted severe fiscal constraints in heavily affected countries as a major challenge.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In 2024, about 570 girls and young women were infected with HIV daily. At the same time, 60% of women-led HIV organisations have lost funding or ceased operations.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Byanyima criticised global geopolitical dynamics, describing current conflicts as struggles for resources such as minerals, energy and influence, with marginalised communities affected most.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In Kenya, most drop-in centres serving key populations have closed, while Nigeria has lost at least five similar clinics. In Uganda, 45% of programmes supporting key populations have partially or fully shut down. In Zimbabwe, services for sex workers collapsed in 2025.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Despite setbacks, Byanyima emphasised that scientific advances such as long-acting prevention and treatment options offer a pathway to ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. However, Byanyima warned that funding cuts and human rights challenges are moving global efforts further from that goal.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–UN\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":34570,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-34569","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Decades of progress in the fight against AIDS face growing risk as donor funding declines, leading to the collapse of community-based health services in vulnerable countries, according to the Executive Director of UNAIDS.","published_date":"","news_description":"Decades of progress in the fight against AIDS face growing risk as donor funding declines, leading to the collapse of community-based health services in vulnerable countries, according to the Executive Director of UNAIDS.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/34569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/34569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34571,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/34569\/revisions\/34571"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=34569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}