The Trump administration has terminated its funding of the joint United Nations program on HIV/Aids, known as UNAids, delivering another devastating blow to the global fight against the disease.
The notice that US funding of UNAids is being cut off is the latest move by the administration to end American involvement in life-saving health and anti-poverty programs around the world. It was issued by Peter Marocco, a Trump loyalist who is spearheading the evisceration of the US overseas aid program through USAid.
Marocco said in a letter to UNAids that its funding was being terminated “for the convenience of the US government”. The action was made “for alignment with agency priorities and national interest”, he said.
The Trump administration’s funding freeze on foreign assistance has already wreaked havoc on HIV treatment programs worldwide. A new UN report has revealed the impact of the cuts on 55 different countries.
Before the funding freeze, the US government was responsible for two-thirds of all international financing for HIV prevention in low- and middle-income countries. Much of it came through the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar) which was founded by George W Bush in 2003 and which has financed about 70% of the global Aids response.
The countries most heavily dependent on financial support from Washington for the fight against HIV/Aids are among the most stricken parts of the planet. They include the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast and Haiti.
A study commissioned by the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation estimates that up to 500,000 people could die in South Africa over the next decade as a result of the US funding cuts. A further half a million new infections might be recorded as a result of USAid grants being stopped to South African health groups.
“We will see lives lost,” the foundation’s Linda-Gail Bekker said.
Trump’s initial attack on foreign assistance led in the opening days of the administration to a total freeze on funding overseas. That was softened by a 1 February waiver that allowed some life-saving care and services to prevent mother-to-child transmission to resume, allowing 20 million people living with HIV to continue receiving medication.
Despite the waiver, confusion and a sporadic flow of aid has already caused widespread suffering. Now, the new cut in funds to UNAids, which operates in 70 countries, will probably to add to the devastation.
“UNAids has received reports from 55 countries experiencing disruptions in their HIV responses due to the US foreign aid pause,” the executive director of the agency, Winnie Byanyima, said on social media.
“Any reduction could severely disrupt lifesaving prevention programs, risking new infections and reversing progress to end Aids.”
The UN has reported the almost total collapse of services in Ivory Coast since the funding freeze began. US programs had brought life-saving help to 85% of the 265,000 people living with HIV in the country.
The initial funding freeze led to a complete shutdown of services. Since the waiver was introduced, most US-funded HIV-prevention services for people at the greatest risk of infection remain closed.
