Latest news with #USAID-supported
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
HIV cases more than double in Middle East and North Africa
Cases of HIV have more than doubled in the Middle East and North Africa over the last decade, new research shows. The number of new HIV infections in five countries – Jordan, Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, and Lebanon – have risen by 116 per cent since 2010 and are expected to rise even further, according to a report from the charity Frontline Aids. Ongoing conflicts and displacement, which have placed people in the region more at risk of HIV infection, are partly to blame for the rise, the report's authors say. High levels of stigma in the region – including laws banning homosexuality – have also created barriers for vulnerable populations to access life-saving HIV prevention and treatments. At least 22,962 cases of HIV were recorded in 2023, compared to less than 11,000 cases in 2010. The rise bucks global trends, which have seen a 39 per cent decrease in new HIV infections over the same period. 'This is a crisis. The MENA region is being left behind. Without urgent investment and action, we could see the HIV epidemic escalating at an unprecedented rate,' said Golda Eid, Programmes Lead at Frontline AIDS. The report warns that limited political will and inadequate funding to tackle HIV in the MENA region are resulting in spiralling numbers of infections. 'I believe the actual numbers are much higher than those reported. The 116 per cent increase is linked to very limited testing coverage, and the size of the key affected population is not well known,' said Dr Mohammed El Khammas, Head of International Actions at Association for the Fight Against AIDS. Despite surging infections, in 2023 the MENA region received less than one per cent of global funding for HIV, which Frontline Aid says leaves an 85 per cent funding shortfall to provide effective HIV response. The report comes at the same time as experts have warned that US and UK aid cuts could trigger a huge resurgence in HIV cases, particularly in Africa, with up to 10.8 million more people expected to be infected globally by 2030 as critical HIV programmes are slashed. 'The current cuts to Pepfar and USAID-supported programmes have already disrupted access to essential HIV services, including for antiretroviral therapy and HIV prevention and testing,' said Dr Debra ten Brink, a scientist at Australia's Burnet Institute. 'Looking ahead, if other donor countries reduce funding, decades of progress to treat and prevent HIV could be unravelled.' Frontline Aids is now calling for stronger political leadership, increased funding programs, the destigmatisation of key populations, improved service delivery, and integration of HIV into general humanitarian response to reduce the surge in infections. Protect yourself and your family by learning more about Global Health Security Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
01-04-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
HIV cases more than double in Middle East and North Africa
Cases of HIV have more than doubled in the Middle East and North Africa over the last decade, new research shows. The number of new HIV infections in five countries – Jordan, Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, and Lebanon – have risen by 116 per cent since 2010 and are expected to rise even further, according to a report from the charity Frontline Aids. Ongoing conflicts and displacement, which have placed people in the region more at risk of HIV infection, are partly to blame for the rise, the report's authors say. High levels of stigma in the region – including laws banning homosexuality – have also created barriers for vulnerable populations to access life-saving HIV prevention and treatments. At least 22,962 cases of HIV were recorded in 2023, compared to less than 11,000 cases in 2010. The rise bucks global trends, which have seen a 39 per cent decrease in new HIV infections over the same period. 'This is a crisis. The MENA region is being left behind. Without urgent investment and action, we could see the HIV epidemic escalating at an unprecedented rate,' said Golda Eid, Programmes Lead at Frontline AIDS. Decades of progress could 'unravel' The report warns that limited political will and inadequate funding to tackle HIV in the MENA region are resulting in spiralling numbers of infections. 'I believe the actual numbers are much higher than those reported. The 116 per cent increase is linked to very limited testing coverage, and the size of the key affected population is not well known,' said Dr Mohammed El Khammas, Head of International Actions at Association for the Fight Against AIDS. Despite surging infections, in 2023 the MENA region received less than one per cent of global funding for HIV, which Frontline Aid says leaves an 85 per cent funding shortfall to provide effective HIV response. The report comes at the same time as experts have warned that US and UK aid cuts could trigger a huge resurgence in HIV cases, particularly in Africa, with up to 10.8 million more people expected to be infected globally by 2030 as critical HIV programmes are slashed. 'The current cuts to Pepfar and USAID-supported programmes have already disrupted access to essential HIV services, including for antiretroviral therapy and HIV prevention and testing,' said Dr Debra ten Brink, a scientist at Australia's Burnet Institute. 'Looking ahead, if other donor countries reduce funding, decades of progress to treat and prevent HIV could be unravelled.' Frontline Aids is now calling for stronger political leadership, increased funding programs, the destigmatisation of key populations, improved service delivery, and integration of HIV into general humanitarian response to reduce the surge in infections.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
U.S. foreign aid cuts might devastate global progress against HIV/AIDS
HIV could explode worldwide in the wake of U.S. cuts to foreign aid, resulting in millions of AIDS deaths and soaring rates of infection, a new analysis says. President Donald Trump has floated the notion of ending the President's Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief, a program created under President George W. Bush that combats HIV and AIDS in the developing world. The Trump Administration paused all foreign aid funding Jan. 20, ostensibly for a 90-day review and evaluation, with only limited exception. Authorization for PEPFAR lapsed Tuesday, according to CBS News, and the world is now watching and waiting to see what will come next. Such funding cuts could undo decades of progress made to end HIV/AIDS as a public health threat, researchers argue in a study published Wednesday in The Lancet HIV. That study came at the same time Britain's Prince Harry withdrew from an AIDS/HIV charity he led in Africa for 19 years. If U.S. aid is cut, researchers estimate that new HIV infections could surge to as many as 10.8 million additional cases, and HIV-related deaths to 2.9 million, by 2030. "The United States has historically been the largest contributor to global efforts to treat and prevent HIV, but the current cuts to PEPFAR and USAID-supported programs have already disrupted access to essential HIV services including for antiretroviral therapy and HIV prevention and testing," co-lead researcher Debra ten Brink, a senior research officer at Australia's Burnet Institute, said in a news release. "Looking ahead, if other donor countries reduce funding, decades of progress to treat and prevent HIV could be unraveled," ten Brink said. "It is imperative to secure sustainable financing and avoid a resurgence of the HIV epidemic which could have devastating consequences, not just in regions such as sub-Saharan Africa, but globally." Five nations provide more than 90% of total international HIV funding, and the U.S. pays nearly three-quarters of that, researchers said in background notes. To estimate the potential effects of cuts to HIV funding, researchers projected infection and death rates in 26 countries that currently receive funds to hold the line against the virus. As much as a six-fold increase in new infections could occur, with between 4.4 million and 10.8 million additional new HIV infections by 2030. The cuts could also result in between 770,000 to 2.9 million HIV-related deaths by 2030, results show. "There could be an even greater impact in sub-Saharan Africa, where broader prevention efforts, such as distributing condoms and offering pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP is a medication that reduces the risk of getting HIV.) are at first risk to be discontinued," co-lead researcher Rowan Martin-Hughes, a senior research officer with the Burnet Institute, said in a news release. "This is in addition to disruptions in testing and treatment programs [that] could cause a surge in new HIV infections, especially in some of the areas where the greatest gains have been made, such as preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV and pediatric HIV deaths," Martin-Hughes added. Between 2010 and 2023, countries that receive foreign aid made significant progress against HIV, with an average 8% annual decrease in new infections and a 10% decrease in HIV-related deaths, researchers noted. Researchers said if foreign aid is greatly reduced, new infections and deaths could be expected to rise back to levels not seen since 2010, potentially undoing all progress made since 2000. Even a temporary cut in funding of one to two years could represent a setback that would require an additional 20 to 30 years of investment before HIV/AIDS is ended as a public health threat, researchers wrote. The U.S. action dovetailed with news that a management dispute prompted Prince Harry to step down as a patron of Sentebale, a charity he set up to help young people with HIV and AIDS in the African nations of Lesotho and Botswana. Reuters noted that he co-founded the charity in 2006 in memory of his mother Princess Diana, who helped combat stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS. More information The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has more on HIV/AIDS. Copyright © 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Telegraph
26-03-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
New modelling predicts up to 10 million additional HIV infections following aid cuts
Aid cuts by Donald Trump and Sir Keir Starmer could trigger a resurgence in HIV cases, with up to 10.8 million more people infected globally. Modelling published in the Lancet HIV medical journal shows the cuts could reverse decades of progress in slowing the epidemic that still kills around one person per minute. It says there will be between 4.4m to 10.8m additional new infections by the end of this decade in low-and-middle income countries unless the funding shortfall can be filled. The peer-reviewed study also estimated there could be between 0.8m and 2.9m HIV-related deaths in children and adults by 2030. Overall new infections and deaths from HIV will return to those last seen in the early 2000s. The grim forecast comes only days after the chief of the United Nations Aids agency made her own warning that US funding cuts could lead to an additional six million deaths in the next four years. Winnie Byanyima this week said she feared a return to the 1990s, when HIV medication was scarcely available in poorer countries, and infections and deaths soared. Foreign donors provide around two-fifths of all anti-HIV funding in low and middle-income countries, with America, the UK, France, Germany, and the Netherlands between them making up 90 per cent of that. Yet each of these countries has recently announced significant aid cuts, giving reasons including the cost of rearming and reacting to the war in Ukraine, the desire to slim down public spending, or ideological opposition. America's cuts are potentially the steepest, after the Trump administration paused all foreign aid for a 90-day review into programmes. The US Pepfar anti-HIV programme is a cornerstone of the global fight against the virus and the largest commitment by a country ever to address a single disease. In the 20 years since it was introduced by George W. Bush, it is credited with saving 26 million lives in more than 50 countries. The Trump administration has vowed to keep 'lifesaving' parts of it, but other parts have been scrapped and it remains unclear how much will survive. 'Decades of progress' could unravel Foreign aid goes to pay for everything from research into new vaccines and treatments, to giving anti-retroviral drugs to those already infected, to providing anti-HIV preventative jabs and tablets to those most at risk of catching the virus. Taken across all five donors, the cuts are between them projected to see a 24 per cent fall in global international HIV funding by next year. Dr Debra ten Brink, a scientist at Australia's Burnet Institute and one of the paper's lead authors, said: 'The current cuts to Pepfar and USAID-supported programmes have already disrupted access to essential HIV services including for antiretroviral therapy and HIV prevention and testing. 'Looking ahead, if other donor countries reduce funding, decades of progress to treat and prevent HIV could be unravelled.' 'It is imperative to secure sustainable financing and avoid a resurgence of the HIV epidemic which could have devastating consequences, not just in regions such as sub-Saharan Africa, but globally.' The modelling looked at the impact on 26 countries and then extrapolated across all lower and middle income countries. If the funding reductions continue as planned, they found there could be between 4.4m to 10.8 million extra new HIV infections by 2030. That would represent a 1.3 to six-fold increase in new infections for people at higher risk of acquiring HIV, compared to if funding levels remained consistent. Dr Rowan Martin-Hughes, also of the Burnet Institute, said: 'There could be an even greater impact in sub-Saharan Africa, where broader prevention efforts, such as distributing condoms and offering pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP – a medication that reduces the risk of getting HIV) are at first risk to be discontinued. 'This is in addition to disruptions in testing and treatment programmes could cause a surge in new HIV infections, especially in some of the areas where the greatest gains have been made, such as preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV and paediatric HIV deaths.' The billions of foreign aid poured into anti-HIV efforts have contributed to significant progress in treating and preventing the virus. There has been an average 8.3 per cent yearly decrease in new infections and a 10.3 per cent decrease in HIV-related deaths, the researchers said. If that trend continued, many countries would be on track to meet global targets to eliminate HIV/Aids as a public health threat by around 2036. That could now go into reverse, the modelling suggests. 'There is an urgent need for innovative, country-led financing strategies and an integration of HIV services into broader health systems, however, this can't happen overnight,' said Dr Nick Scott, also of the Burnet Institute (Australia). 'Long-term strategic planning is required for countries to transition from internationally supported to domestically financed programmes. Our study highlights how important international collaboration and investment have been in maintaining progress against HIV.'
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Opinion - The savings from shuttering USAID aren't worth the global costs
I recently returned from Ethiopia, where I help to lead a program that has trained essentially all of the pulmonary physicians in that country. During my visit, I spoke at the annual scientific meeting of the Ethiopian Thoracic Society. I have attended that meeting many times; every year there is also a presentation from the leader of the USAID-supported Ethiopian national tuberculosis control program. Just recently, in fact, USAID announced a major new initiative to control and prevent tuberculosis (including drug-resistant tuberculosis) in Ethiopia, which is classified by the World Health Organization as a high-burden country for tuberculosis. This year, there was no representative from USAID at the meeting to discuss the tuberculosis situation in Ethiopia or plans to combat the disease. My colleagues in Ethiopia who had organized the meeting told me that their emails and phone calls to their USAID colleagues had gone unanswered. This of course occurred in the wake of the recent decision in Washington to shutter the agency. Despite assurances that support of vital programs in areas such as AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis would continue, this does not appear to be the case. Ethiopia is a very poor country and the largest recipient of USAID funds in sub-Saharan Africa, at roughly $1 billion annually, a mere 0.015 percent of the annual U.S. budget. A great deal of that money goes to food aid, but significant funds support efforts in disease control and public health. The consequences of withdrawing support for activities such as the national tuberculosis program could be devastating. In recent years Ethiopia, with USAID support, has made significant strides in adopting modern tuberculosis diagnostics and in providing new and more effective regimens to patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis. What will happen without continued support of that program? Patients will go longer before their tuberculosis is diagnosed. Their lungs will be more extensively damaged, so that even after cure of their tuberculosis they will be left with life-long pulmonary impairment. Potentially most worrisome of all, rates of drug-resistant tuberculosis will likely rise. Several years ago, I worked on a project to try to understand the epidemiology of drug-resistant tuberculosis in Kazakhstan, a country with an astoundingly high rate of that particular form of the disease. In fact, the highest rates of drug-resistant tuberculosis are today mostly found in Russia and the countries of the former Soviet Union. I had a conversation with the physician who was then head of the national tuberculosis control program in Kazakhstan, and I asked him what the genesis of the problem was. He explained to me that at the time the Soviet Union collapsed, there was no money available for the public health authorities to purchase enough antibiotics to allow effective treatment of tuberculosis patients who had fallen ill and to sustain a functioning national tuberculosis program. Prescribing and administration of drugs became erratic and incomplete, which is a recipe for generating drug-resistance. This was all true. Thousands of patients died from drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis, a disease that is usually quite curable. Thirty-five years later, the problem is still severe in those countries. Although better and more effective drugs and regimens are now available to treat drug-resistant tuberculosis, those drugs are more expensive than older drugs, and they require careful administration and monitoring. Withdrawal of USAID support will severely threaten tuberculosis control efforts in Ethiopia and in many other countries around the world. Tuberculosis remains largely a disease of countries with limited resources, and aid from the U.S. has been critical making progress in many of those countries. Funds from USAID support the introduction of advanced diagnostic techniques and the purchase of adequate quantities of the safest, most effective drugs to treat all forms of the disease. And of course, as with all infectious diseases, the microorganisms that cause tuberculosis don't know anything about national boundaries. Tuberculosis is an ancient disease that over centuries has claimed the lives of millions of people. The modern era of treatment began only in the middle of the 20th century, and now we are able to cure the vast, vast majority of patients with drugs that should be available to everyone, everywhere. Hermann Biggs, a pioneering physician in public health in New York in the early part of the 20th century, famously said, 'Public health is purchasable. Within natural limitations a community can determine its own death-rate.' Withdrawing support for the diagnosis and treatment of malaria, HIV infection and tuberculosis will have predictable consequences. The amount of money that is saved by closing USAID will likely have very little impact in the U.S., but in the countries where that money was to have been spent, the consequences will be enormous and deadly. Neil Schluger, M.D., Dean School of Medicine, New York Medical College. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
