JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Decades of progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS are in danger of unraveling, the United Nations Aids Agency (UNAIDS) warned Thursday in its annual report, citing sharp funding cuts from major donors.
The report, launched in South Africa by UNAIDS, says those cuts — especially the sudden withdrawal of U.S. funding — are threatening to reverse gains that have saved millions of lives over the past two decades.
“If the world doesn’t plug this hole,” said Winnie Byanyima, executive director of UNAIDS, “we estimate that an additional 6 million people will be newly infected in the next four years. We could have 4 million additional AIDS-related deaths.”
The report’s warning comes five months after the Trump administration halted most funding for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) — the largest single contributor to the global HIV/AIDS response. The decision was made with little warning.
“The sudden withdrawal of the single biggest HIV donor is putting this progress at risk,” Byanyima said during a press briefing in Johannesburg.
Since the start of the epidemic, UNAIDS says 26.9 million lives have been saved through treatment efforts — many of them in sub-Saharan Africa, the region most affected by the virus.