The decision by US President Donald Trump to suspend overseas funding could lead to millions of additional deaths from AIDS, the head of the United Nations’ HIV/AIDS programme warned on Sunday.
The United States, the world’s largest provider of foreign aid through USAID, froze most overseas assistance for 90 days upon Trump’s return to office in January, disrupting global humanitarian efforts.
The suspension includes a pause on the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which supports over 20 million HIV patients and 270,000 health workers worldwide.
UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima cautioned that the funding halt could cause AIDS-related deaths to surge by tenfold to 6.3 million within five years, with new infections potentially rising to 8.7 million in the same period.
Though Washington has stated that life-saving treatments are exempt from the freeze, health workers in Africa report that clinics have already closed due to funding gaps.
Byanyima, speaking at the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, called on African nations to transition to domestic revenue for health funding.
However, she noted that many countries are heavily burdened by debt, limiting their ability to compensate for the shortfall.
She urged an immediate and comprehensive debt restructuring, emphasising that debt repayments were crowding out essential spending on health and education.
USAID, founded in 1961, operates with an annual budget exceeding $40 billion, with a significant portion allocated to global health and development programmes.
