Decades of progress in the global fight against AIDS are increasingly at risk as international donor funding declines and community-based health systems weaken in some of the world’s most vulnerable countries.
Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), warned in New York that the sharp drop in funding is hitting the HIV response “like a shock wave,” adding that “the world is pulling back just when we need to push forward.”
She noted that many countries are not yet equipped to sustain programmes previously supported by external donors, with prevention and support services already collapsing in several regions.
According to UNAIDS, 9.3 million people living with HIV are still awaiting treatment initiation, while 1.3 million new infections were recorded globally in 2024.
The agency also warned that the funding crisis is causing “real consequences” in developing countries, where treatment expansion has stalled and community organisations are scaling down or shutting operations entirely.
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In Nigeria, condom distribution reportedly fell by 55 per cent between December 2024 and March 2025. UNAIDS further said HIV-focused charities are under increasing strain, with many reducing activities or closing, while about 60 per cent of women-led HIV organisations have lost funding or ceased operations. The agency also noted that Nigeria has lost at least five similar clinics.
In 2024, an estimated 570 adolescent girls and young women were newly infected with HIV each day.
Despite these setbacks, Byanyima stressed that scientific progress still makes it possible to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030, pointing to innovations such as long-acting PrEP, preventive treatments, and advanced therapies.
However, she cautioned that sudden funding cuts, combined with growing resistance to human rights protections, are pushing the world further away from achieving that goal.
