More than six million people could die from HIV and AIDS in the next four years if U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration halts global funding for programs, U.N. AIDS agency UNAIDS said Friday.
Although the freeze on U.S. foreign aid funding last month did not affect the HIV/AIDS program, many problems could arise in the future of treatment programs, the deputy executive director of UNAIDS told reporters in Geneva, according to Reuters. “There is a lot of uncertainty, especially at the community level, about how aid will be delivered. We are seeing significant disruption of treatment services,” Christine Stegling said.
After taking office on Jan. 20, Trump suspended USAID for 90 days. The U.S. State Department later said the aid freeze did not apply to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the world’s leading HIV, life-saving humanitarian aid initiative.
While welcoming the waiver, Stegling emphasized that the situation remains chaotic.
Amid overall funding cuts, Stegling warned that the number of AIDS deaths would increase by 400% if financial support for PEPFAR stops between 2025 and 2029.
“That’s 6.3 million people, 6.3 million AIDS deaths going forward… Any penny, any cut, any pause will make a difference to all of us,” she said, calling on UN member states to step in. “In Ethiopia, we have 5,000 contracts with health workers that are funded by U.S. aid. And all of them have been terminated,” Stegling said.
She emphasized that community clinics are experiencing the most disruption because they are “totally dependent” on U.S. government funding. Christine Stegling also expressed concern that some people may not seek treatment, which in turn could lead to an increase in new HIV infections.
U.S. donations make up the majority of global funding for the U.N. program, which works in 70 countries and is leading a global effort to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. The Trump administration has said it is reviewing all foreign aid programs to see if they are in line with his “America First” policy.