US funding cuts could reverse decades of gains in AIDS fight: UN
Around 31.6 million people were on antiretroviral drugs in 2024 and deaths from AIDS-related illnesses had more than halved since 2010 to 630,000 that year, the UNAIDS agency said in a new report.
Now however, infections were likely to shoot up as funding cuts have shuttered prevention and treatment programmes, it said.
The United States was the world's biggest donor of humanitarian assistance until President Donald Trump's abrupt slashing of international aid in February. That left the global humanitarian community scrambling to keep life-saving operations afloat.
"We are proud of the achievements, but worried about this sudden disruption reversing the gains we have made," UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima told AFP ahead of the report's launch in Johannesburg.
The agency in April warned that a permanent discontinuation of PEPFAR, the massive US effort to fight HIV/AIDS, would lead to more than six million new infections and an additional 4.2 million AIDS-related deaths in the next four years.
This would bring the pandemic back to levels not seen since the early 2000s.
- A 'ticking time bomb' -
"This is not just a funding gap," Byanyima said in a press release.
"It's a ticking time bomb" whose effects are already felt worldwide.
Over 60 percent of all women-led HIV organisations surveyed by UNAIDS had lost funding or had to suspend services, the report said.
In a striking example, the number of people receiving pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) drugs to prevent transmission in Nigeria fell by over 85 percent in the first few months of 2025.
The "story of how the world has come together" to fight HIV/AIDS is "one of the most important stories of progress in global health", Byanyima told AFP.
"But that great story has been disrupted massively" by Trump's "unprecedented" and "cruel" move, she said.
"Priorities can shift, but you do not take away life-saving support from people just like that," she said.
- Key research hit -
Crucial medical research on prevention and treatment have also shut down, including many in South Africa which has one of the highest HIV rates in the world and has become a leader in global research.
"Developing countries themselves contribute very much towards the research on HIV and AIDS, and that research serves the whole world," Byanyima said.
In 25 out of 60 low- and middle-income countries surveyed by UNAIDS, governments had found ways to compensate part of the funding shortfall with domestic resources.
"We have to move towards nationally owned and financed responses," Byaniyma said.
She called for debt relief and the reform of international financial institutions to "free up the fiscal space for developing countries to pay for their own response".
"It is the responsibility of every government to provide for its people," South Africa's health minister Aaron Motsoaledi said at the report's launch, calling the US pullout a "wake-up call".
The global HIV response built from grassroots activism was "resilient by its very nature", Byanyima told AFP.
"We moved from people dying every single day to now a point where it is really like a chronic illness," she said.
"There is no question that the investment has been worth it, and continues to be worth it. It saves lives."
jcb/ho/jj
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
SBS Australia
a day ago
- SBS Australia
The big biosecurity question at the centre of Australia's US beef move
The federal government has lifted a ban on beef imports from the United States, expanding access to products sourced from Canada and Mexico. It's a move some experts say risks Australia's biosecurity and may be politically motivated. Although the US has been able to send beef to Australia since 2019, any cattle raised in Canada or Mexico before being slaughtered and processed in the US was previously barred due to biosecurity concerns. Now, following a decade-long science-based review, that restriction is gone. But some question whether Australia's strict biosecurity laws are being used for political gain, with the government facing questions over whether the move was made to appease US President Donald Trump. Biosecurity concerns One key concern was that Mexico's livestock tracking system could inadvertently allow beef from disease-affected regions to enter Australia. But the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry said the new changes follow the introduction of more robust movement controls in the US in late 2024 and early 2025, allowing for better tracing of cattle through the supply chain. Professor Michael Ward, a veterinary public health expert at the University of Sydney, said the decision opens Australia up to more risk because disease traceability in North America is "not quite as strong" as in Europe. Australia allows imports of beef products from a limited number of European countries. "You can potentially have cattle coming from lower disease status areas caught up in what gets exported, and then trying to work out where it's come from, that becomes really difficult," he said. "You can't really [separate those markets] in the US because it's such a bigger market and it's integrated … If a cow is moved to the US and it's there for three months, is it then an American cow? "You're basically increasing the pool of potentially risky animals, and that then flows into the risk assessment." The main risks associated with beef imports are the introduction of diseases such as mad cow disease and foot and mouth disease. Both the US and Mexico are free from both diseases. Canada is free of foot and mouth disease, but has had some cases of mad cow disease in the past. Ward said it's not "reasonable to believe all three countries have the same risk". "They're different systems, different countries, different raising conditions, different administrations. As you increase the number of countries, you're going to increase the risk." A spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture said the review was the culmination of "a decade of science and risk-based import assessment and evaluation … to make sure Australia's robust biosecurity measures are upheld". They added that the government would "not compromise on our enviable biosecurity status or our food standards, ever". Is biosecurity being used as a bargaining tool? Some believe the change could help Australia negotiate a better trade deal with the US — particularly on tariffs. As part of his sweeping global tariffs, Trump introduced a baseline 10 per cent tariff on many Australian goods in April. "[Australians] ban American beef," Trump said at the time. "Yet, we imported [US]$3 billion ($4.5 billion) of Australian beef from them just last year alone … They don't want it because they don't want it to affect their farmers." Nationals leader David Littleproud has accused the Albanese government of using the beef industry to appease Trump as it continues to pursue a broader tariff exemption. "It looks as though it's [biosecurity] been traded away to appease Donald Trump," Littleproud said on ABC's Radio National on Thursday. Coalition frontbencher James Paterson called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to "stand up ... and explain" to Australia's beef farmers that the government hasn't "watered down" biosecurity. Ward is also concerned the government is "playing off" biosecurity protections to secure a better deal. "It seems like a trade-driven decision," he said. He warned that the short-term economic gain from lifting tariffs could pale in comparison to the potential cost of a disease outbreak. "It's a huge concern — once you have introduced a disease — foot and mouth disease, for example — years and years and millions of dollars are spent trying to control that," he said. "That short-term gain — if it is tariff-driven — whether what the benefit of that is compared to a long-term disease scenario, it just doesn't add up. You really have to think about the long-term." Trade Minister Don Farrell has denied any link between the decision and pressure from the US. "There's nothing suspicious about this," he told Sky News. "If we want to export our beef overseas, then we have to accept that other countries will want to import their beef into Australia." "We're not going to allow our biosecurity rules to be impacted by the trade issues." How has the industry responded? Some industry groups say they support science-based decision-making but expressed frustration over the lack of transparency. "Science must remain the cornerstone of technical market access decisions," Australian Meat Industry Council CEO Tim Ryan said in a statement. "This progress on the US's access request demonstrates Australia's consistency in applying internationally recognised standards, which is vital to the long-term sustainability of our sector." The National Farmers Federation (NFF) said the decision needed to come "separate from any tariff negotiations". "The NFF's been clear that the revised request from the US needed to undergo the standard, science-based assessment to protect our biosecurity, and should be dealt with separate from any tariff negotiations," the organisation said in a statement. Cattle Australia CEO Will Evans said the announcement came without proper consultation. "There's going to be a lot of people today who feel blindsided by this, there's going to be a lot of people who are going to feel really frustrated and threatened by this," he told ABC radio. 'This science-based process has been, and always should be, conducted completely independently of any international trade negotiations," he added. Ward said that without seeing the final risk assessment, it's hard to judge whether the safeguards are sufficient. "It's a bit surprising," he said. "I would have thought if it's good science, you publicise it." SBS News has contacted Agriculture Minister Julie Collins for comment. With additional reporting from AAP.
News.com.au
4 days ago
- News.com.au
The black plague is still killing people in 2025
President Donald Trump was swept into office promising to Make America Healthy Again. Now his controversial Health Secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, must contend with the return of the Black Death. The plague that killed millions in Medieval Europe and Asia has claimed a life in Arizona. It's the first fatality for the condition in that state for more than 18 years. And it's a stark reminder that the bacteria behind the deadly disease is deeply entrenched in the US heartland. It involved the plague's most deadly incarnation. 'The recent death is concerning, as it involves the airborne pneumonic form of the disease, the only form that spreads easily from person to person,' says Western Sydney University microbiology expert Thomas Jeffries. 'But there's no evidence of further spread of the disease within the US at this stage.' Only 14 people have died of plague in the US in the past 25 years. But pneumonic plague is the most severe of the plague's three forms. All are caused by Yersinia pestis bacteria. Bubonic plague presents with flu-like symptoms and swollen lymph nodes in the groin, armpit and neck. Septicaemic plague puts the body into shock and is characterised by blackening of the fingers, toes, and nose. Both are usually caused by bites from fleas carrying the bacteria, and fatality rates vary between 30 and 60 per cent. Pneumonic plague is caused when tiny airborne droplets carry the bacteria into the lungs. There, it reproduces rapidly while attacking its host's immune system. If left untreated, the fatality rate can be as high as 100 per cent. But modern medicine has advanced considerably since medieval times. 'Plague can evoke a very emotional reaction, as many people associate plague with the Black Death, which ravaged Europe and killed millions in the 1300s,' infectious disease expert Dr Shirin Mazumder told US media. 'Although plague-related fatalities can occur, they are very uncommon, and we have highly effective antibiotic therapy to treat plague if diagnosed early.' Historic potential The 2020 COVID pandemic was caused when the SARS-CoV-2 virus mutated enough to find humans to be hospitable hosts. Similar mutations have emerged among Yersinia pestis strains over the centuries. 'This disease is one of the most important in history,' argues Jeffries. 'The Plague of Justinian (541–750CE) killed tens of millions of people in the western Mediterranean, heavily impacting the expansion of the Byzantine Empire. 'The medieval Black Death (1346–53) was also seismic, killing tens of millions of people and up to half of Europe's population. 'The third and most recent plague pandemic spanned the years 1855 until roughly 1960, peaking in the early 1900s. It was responsible for 12 million deaths, primarily in India, and even reached Australia.' However, the discovery that the cause was a flea-inhabiting bacterium has resulted in the disease being largely suppressed. 'As Y. pestis is not found in Australian animals, there is little risk here,' Jeffries states. 'Plague has not been reported in Australia in more than a century.' However, sporadic outbreaks persist in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, Peru, India, Central Asia, and the US, as the disease is entrenched in local rodent populations. And a fresh outbreak of plague would be a severe test of Health Secretary Kennedy's MAHA agenda. Kennedy has a long history of supporting unsubstantiated health conspiracies. He has argued that COVID-19 discriminated between ethnic groups. He has linked tap water to transgender children. He has claimed 'miasma' (a medieval term for pollutants and bad smells) is just as deadly as viruses and bacteria. 'Miasma theory emphasises preventing disease by fortifying the immune system through nutrition and reducing exposures to environmental toxins and stresses,' Kennedy wrote in his book, The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health. Since taking office in February, the former environmental lawyer has cut thousands of jobs in his Department of Health and Human Services and shut down several advisory bodies and health programs at the Centres for Disease Control (CDC). Known unknowns 'The only means to fight a plague is honesty,' Kennedy, 71, stated in The Real Anthony Fauci. But few details about the Arizona plague fatality have yet been released. 'Our hearts go out to the family and friends of the deceased. We are keeping them in our thoughts during this difficult time,' a Coconino County Board of Supervisors spokeswoman told media. 'Out of respect for the family, no additional information about the death will be released'. The incubation period of pneumonic plague, once it settles in the lungs, can be as little as one day. An intense course of common modern antibiotics is an effective treatment - if administered quickly. Was the patient suffering from untreated bubonic or septicaemic plague, where the bacteria spread to the lungs? Or was it contracted from infectious droplets coughed up by an animal or a person? And was it caught in the countryside, or an urban environment? 'Plague infects an average of seven people a year in the west of the country (United States), due to being endemic in groundhog and prairie dog populations there,' writes Jeffries. 'The last major outbreak was 100 years ago.' Prairie dogs are easy targets for the fleas that carry Yersinia pestis. But they tend to die quickly once infected. As such, a sudden spate of Prairie dog deaths can be an early warning sign of an outbreak of the bacteria. 'The source of the exposure is still under investigation; however, the death is not related to a recent report of a prairie dog die-off,' the Coconino County's health service has told US media. But other animals regularly handled by humans can get infected. Especially cats. They can contract the bacteria by eating infected rodents or being bitten by fleas. The CDC warns that this can then be transmitted to owners when the cat sneezes.
SBS Australia
5 days ago
- SBS Australia
Second case of rare mpox strain discovered in traveller
Listen to Australian and world news, and follow trending topics with SBS News Podcasts . "The patient has a close family, and that family are isolating at home. He was not contagious on the return journey to Australia from Africa, and those close contacts that he has been in contact including at the emergency ward and other locations are being contact traced right now and identified." That's Queensland's Health Minister Tim Nicholls, confirming a new strain of mpox virus has been detected in a man who's just returned to the south-east of the state from a trip to Africa. He says Mpox is a disease caused by the monkeypox virus. "Mpox is not easily spread. It is only spread or it can only spread through close or intimate contact. It is particularly spread by close sexual contact and particularly for gay men and people engaging with sex is the primary cause of the contagious spread." Dr Geoffrey Playford is the head of infectious diseases at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Queensland. He says the rare Clade 1 strain of mpox has only been seen once before in Australia, also in a returned traveller. "Over the last year and a half in Queensland, we've had 135 cases in mpox clade 2 - this is the first case of clade 1 and the second time in Australia we've had clade 1. The other case was in New South Wales in May." Mr Nicholls says the public should NOT be concerned. "We think that there are 19 community contacts and 40 staff contacts that have been in contact with the patient. At the moment his symptoms are asymptomatic. They are not showing any signs of the clade 1 mpox, but they are isolating. The family involves children in high school, primary school and childcare centres and the high school, primary school and childcare centres either have been or are in the process of being identified." Dr Playford says authorities are not worried either. He says fortunately in this case the clinical presentation is relatively mild and there are no particular concerns for the patient's health. "And all of our efforts at the moment is to identify contacts using national guidelines to undertake quarantine where the very close contacts have been identified, again in line with the national guidelines." The close contacts will be offered a vaccine that is highly effective against mpox -either preventing or making the disease significantly milder and shorter. Mr Nicholls says over a year ago there were some restrictions on the availability of the vaccine. But now, Queensland has ample supplies - and the vaccine is provided free of charge through sexual health clinics and some GPs [[general practitioners]]. The Queensland government is advising anyone who suspects they may have the virus to seek medical advice from their local doctor, sexual health clinic or public health unit.
