- HIV drug supplies at risk in 8 countries
- HIV services halted in 50+ countries
- WHO warns of 10M new HIV cases and 3M deaths
The UN World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that eight countries, including Nigeria, Kenya, and Lesotho, could soon run out of HIV drugs due to a recent decision by the US government to suspend foreign aid. The freeze, announced by US President Donald Trump on his first day in office in January, was part of a broader review of government spending.
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus cautioned that disruptions to HIV programs could reverse 20 years of progress. He emphasized that this could result in more than 10 million new HIV cases and three million HIV-related deaths, which would be more than three times the number of deaths from last year.
Countries like Nigeria, Kenya, Lesotho, South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Mali, as well as Haiti and Ukraine, are at risk of running out of life-saving anti-retroviral (ARV) medications in the coming months, Dr. Tedros reported at a press conference.
Trump’s executive order, which paused foreign aid for an initial 90 days, aligned with his “America First” foreign policy, has severely affected global health programs, particularly shipments of crucial medical supplies like HIV drugs. The freeze led to the termination of most US Agency for International Development (USAID) programs.
Although a waiver was issued in February for the US’s major HIV initiative, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the program has still been significantly impacted. PEPFAR, launched in 2003, has been instrumental in providing access to anti-retroviral drugs for some of the world’s poorest populations and is credited with saving more than 26 million lives worldwide. However, disruptions have led to the immediate halt of HIV treatment, testing, and prevention services in over 50 countries, according to Dr. Tedros.
In addition to these health challenges, Trump’s administration also announced the US would withdraw from the WHO, affecting the organization’s funding. Dr. Tedros acknowledged the US’s long-standing generosity but emphasized that if the US withdraws funding, it must be done in a way that allows affected countries to find alternative sources of support.
Sub-Saharan Africa is home to an estimated 25 million people living with HIV, more than two-thirds of the global total of 38 million. In Nigeria, nearly two million people live with HIV, many of whom depend on aid-funded medicines. Kenya ranks seventh globally in terms of the number of people living with HIV, with around 1.4 million individuals affected, according to WHO data.
Dr. Tedros appealed to the US to reconsider its stance on global health, stressing that the support not only saves lives worldwide but also helps protect the US by preventing the international spread of diseases.
