According to a recent report from the United Nations AIDS agency (UNAIDS), more than six million people could die from HIV and AIDS over the next four years if the United States ends its financial support for global treatment programs.
Christine Stegling, the Deputy Executive Director of UNAIDS, spoke to reporters in Geneva on Friday, raising concerns about the uncertainty surrounding the future of these programs.
She noted that while the U.S. placed a waiver on HIV/AIDS programs in its recent foreign aid funding freeze, many questions remain about how the waiver will be carried out.
“There is a lot of confusion, especially on the community level, how the waiver will be implemented. We’re seeing a lot of disruption of delivery of treatment services,” Stegling said.
The funding issue began when former U.S. President Donald Trump put a temporary hold on hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid shortly after taking office on January 20.
Following this, the U.S. State Department allowed a waiver for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which is the world’s largest initiative for fighting HIV/AIDS. However, Stegling noted that the situation remains unstable despite this temporary relief.
She warned that without re-authorization of PEPFAR funding between 2025 and 2029, there could be a drastic rise in AIDS-related deaths.
“That’s 6.3 million people, 6.3 million AIDS-related deaths that will occur in future…Any penny, any cut, any pause, will matter for all of us,” she said.
Stegling also noted that the impact of funding cuts is already visible. She pointed out that in Ethiopia, about 5,000 public health worker contracts supported by U.S. funding have been terminated. This disruption is hitting local community clinics the hardest since many rely entirely on U.S. financial aid.
She expressed concern that if clinics cannot provide proper care, people might hesitate to seek treatment, leading to a rise in new HIV infections.
