With the Donald Trump administration freezing funds for international aid, the UN AIDS agency expressed concerns regarding its global humanitarian efforts in tackling the spread of infections and diseases.
The head of the UN AIDS agency said that the number of HIV infections could jump more than six times by 2029 if the US support for the AIDS programme is dropped.
UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima stressed that the emergence of more resistant strains could cause millions of deaths and new diseases could emerge paving the way for a ‘catastrophe’.
The agency highlighted that the pause in US assistance to community programmes would lead to the closure of many drop-in health centres in several countries and the termination of outreach workers' contracts.
The biggest impact would be to community health services which have been crucial in the success of the fight against HIV. "HIV infections have been falling in recent years, with just 1.3 million new cases recorded in 2023, a 60 per cent decline since the virus peaked in 1995," Byanyima told The Associated Press.
Officials estimate that by 2029, there could be 8.7 million people newly infected with HIV, 6.3 million AIDS-related deaths and an additional 3.4 million children made orphans, Byanyima added.
President Donald Trump after assuming office announced that the US would freeze all foreign assistance for 90 days.
She requested the Trump administration to review its decision and not to abruptly cut off funding. Byanyima stressed that African countries would be the worst hit if funding stopped. Nearly USD 400 million goes to countries like Uganda, Mozambique and Tanzania, she said.
The withdrawal of the US from global HIV efforts is one of the biggest crises the field has ever faced after the years-long delay it took for poor countries to get the lifesaving antiretrovirals long available in rich countries.
