Halting funding for HIV programmes could reverse decades of progress, WHO tells US

Halting funding for HIV programmes could reverse decades of progress, WHO tells US

 The World Health Organisation (WHO) has expressed deep
concern about the funding pause for HIV programmes in low- and middle-income
countries.

 

US President Donald Trump recently ordered a funding pause
for HIV treatment in developing countries as part of an executive order on
foreign aid.

 

As a result, the US State Department suspended the
disbursement of funds from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief
(PEPFAR).

 

PEPFAR is providing HIV treatment for more than 20 million
people living with the disease in Nigeria and globally, including 566,000
children under 15 years of age.

 

The WHO, in a statement, said 39.9 million people were
living with HIV globally at the end of 2023.

 

The organisation said these programmes provide access to
life-saving HIV therapy to more than 30 million people worldwide.

 

”A funding halt for HIV programmes can put people living
with HIV at immediate increased risk of illness and death and undermine efforts
to prevent transmission in communities and countries,” the statement reads.

 

”Such measures, if prolonged, could lead to rises in new
infections and deaths, reversing decades of progress and potentially taking the
world back to the 1980s and 1990s when millions died of HIV every year
globally, including many in the United States of America.

 

“For the global community, this could result in significant
setbacks to progress in partnerships and investments in scientific advances
that have been the cornerstone of good public health programming, including
innovative diagnostics, affordable medicines, and community delivery models of
HIV care.”

 

The WHO called on the United States Ggovernment to “enable
additional exemptions to ensure the delivery of lifesaving HIV treatment and
care”.

Source: Halting funding for HIV programmes could reverse decades of progress, WHO tells US

 - NigerianEye
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