The global battle against HIV/AIDS is facing a serious setback as shrinking donor support and the collapse of grassroots healthcare services threaten years of progress, the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has warned.
Speaking in New York, the Executive Director of Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, Winnie Byanyima, described the sharp drop in funding as a major blow to global HIV intervention efforts.
According to her, the HIV response is being hit “like a shock wave,” stressing that “the world is pulling back just when we need to push forward.”
Byanyima noted that many nations lack the financial strength to maintain programmes that were once heavily backed by foreign donors, warning that prevention initiatives and support systems are already failing in several vulnerable countries.
She revealed that about 9.3 million people living with HIV have yet to access treatment, while 1.3 million fresh infections were recorded globally in 2024.
The UNAIDS boss said the worsening funding crisis was already producing “real consequences” in many developing nations, with treatment expansion slowing down and several community-based organisations either scaling back operations or shutting their doors completely.
In Nigeria, UNAIDS disclosed that condom distribution plunged by 55 percent between December 2024 and March 2025.
The agency further lamented that charities and advocacy groups involved in HIV/AIDS response were increasingly struggling to survive due to reduced financial support.
It added that nearly 570 girls and young women contracted HIV daily in 2024, even as 60 percent of women-led HIV organisations either lost funding or ceased operations entirely.
UNAIDS also disclosed that Nigeria has lost at least five similar healthcare centres due to the funding shortfall.
Despite the growing concerns, Byanyima maintained that scientific breakthroughs still provide hope for ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.
“Science is offering us solutions that could end this epidemic by 2030.
“Long-acting PrEP, long-acting prevention, long-acting treatments, medicines that we would not have thought about 10 years ago. All these are there,” she said.
She, however, cautioned that sudden cuts in donor support and increasing resistance against human rights were pushing the world further away from achieving that target.
