Latest news with #2025GlobalAIDSUpdate
IOL News
2 days ago
- Health
- IOL News
South Africa boosts HIV funding amid global crisis affecting children and young women
South Africa's 2025 budget review includes a 5.9 percent annual increase in overall health expenditure and a 3.3 percent annual rise for HIV and tuberculosis programmes. Image: Independent Newspapers Archives As the world faces a historic HIV funding crisis that threatens to reverse decades of progress, South Africa is emerging as a beacon of commitment, funding 77 percent of its national HIV response and pledging further increases in health and HIV spending over the next three years. According to UNAIDS' 2025 Global AIDS Update, released last week, South Africa's 2025 budget review includes a 5.9 percent annual increase in overall health expenditure and a 3.3 percent annual rise for HIV and tuberculosis programmes, along with plans to invest in health systems infrastructure, including a national chronic medicine dispensing system. But the report, titled 'AIDS, Crisis and the Power to Transform', warns that South Africa is an exception in a world where funding cuts are devastating HIV services, particularly for children and young women in low- and middle-income countries. In 2024, 620,000 children under 15 living with HIV did not receive treatment, leading to 75,000 AIDS-related child deaths. The year also saw 630,000 AIDS-related deaths globally, with 61 percent of them in sub-Saharan Africa. 'This is not just a funding gap: it's a ticking time bomb,' said UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima. 'People, especially children and key populations, are being pushed out of care.' Adolescent girls and young women aged 15 to 24 are being hit especially hard. In 2024, over 210,000 acquired HIV, an average of 570 new infections every day. Prevention programmes that once protected this group are vanishing as donor funding disappears. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ In Nigeria, monthly PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) initiation fell from 40,000 to just 6,000 people, while more than 60 percent of women-led HIV organisations surveyed in early 2025 had lost funding or shut down. In Mozambique, over 30,000 health personnel were affected by funding-related disruptions. If the crisis continues, UNAIDS estimates 6 million new HIV infections and 4 million AIDS-related deaths could occur between 2025 and 2029. While 25 countries have pledged domestic increases totalling 180 million US dollars in 2026, UNAIDS warns this is not enough to replace the large-scale donor withdrawals. Community-led services, crucial for reaching vulnerable populations, are being slashed, while new punitive laws in countries like Uganda and Mali are pushing people further from care. 'There is still time to transform this crisis into an opportunity,' said Byanyima. 'Countries are stepping up with domestic funding. Communities are showing what works. We now need global solidarity to match their courage and resilience.' 'In a time of crisis, the world must choose transformation over retreat,' she added. 'Together, we can still end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 if we act with urgency, unity, and unwavering commitment.' THE MERCURY
The Print
5 days ago
- Health
- The Print
UNAIDS 2025 report warns of funding gaps in fight against HIV as India battles stigma, discrimination
Also, in India, more than 80 percent of surveyed women aged between 15 and 49 years were reported between 2020 and 2024 to lack autonomy over their sexual choices and reproductive healthcare. Additionally, over 90 percent of them lacked information about contraceptive use. The report titled 'AIDS, Crisis And The Power To Transform', released on 10 July, also highlights that the prevalence of intimate partner violence among partnered or married women living with HIV in the same age group in India stood at 24 percent—just 10 percent less than Liberia, where the prevalence was found to be highest globally. The figures are based on data from 2020-2024. New Delhi: The 2025 Global AIDS Update by UNAIDS (Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS) shows that 30 percent of people surveyed in the 15-49 age group in India reported facing HIV-related stigma and discrimination. The 2025 update notes the impact that massive funding cuts by international donors are having on countries most affected by HIV, and how the threat of a funding crisis may hurt global progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS unless countries alter their programming. According to the UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima, the Global HIV response shows a decline of newly HIV infected persons by 40 percent, and of 56 percent deaths since 2010. However, the withdrawal of the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the biggest contributor to global response, may lead to 6 million additional people being infected, and an additional 4 million deaths by 2029. The funding crisis has disrupted treatment and prevention programmes around the world, the report says. But it also points to the emergence of new prevention tools, like Lenacapavir, a long-acting injectable pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), 'which has shown near-complete efficacy in clinical trials'. It can prevent HIV with injection doses twice a year. The manufacturer of Lenacapavir, Gilead Sciences, has licenced six generic manufacturers, of which Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Emcure, Hetero, and Mylan—subsidiary of Viatris—operate in India. However, affordability and access are still big challenges. According to the report, in terms of region-wise distribution, Eastern and Southern Africa saw the highest new HIV infections in 2024 at 37 percent, the lowest being in the Caribbean at one percent. In Asia and the Asia Pacific, of which India is a part, the figure stands at 23 percent. With respect to people living with HIV in 2024, the highest was reported in Eastern and Southern Africa at 52 percent, or 21.1 million. The lowest number of people was in the Caribbean—one percent, or 3,40,000. In Asia and Asia Pacific, the number was 17 percent, or 6.9 million. India is among the 13 of the 35 reporting countries that have reached safe injecting targets—90 percent using sterile equipment at last injection. It is clubbed with South Africa, Thailand and Brazil under Low-Dependency Countries in the matrix of dependency on PEPFAR funding. The report also mentions that social enterprises help diversify revenue resources. In India, the Mist LGBTQ Foundation runs an online platform to market merchandise, and offer HIV self-testing and PrEP consultations, either free or at a low rate. Another organisation, the Network of Maharashtra People Living with HIV TAAL+ Pharmacy sells antiretroviral and other medicines at discounted prices via corporate social responsibility partnerships. (Edited by Mannat Chugh) Also Read: Bringing dramatic drop in TB deaths, how TN set an example for rest of India with one-of-a-kind model
New Indian Express
6 days ago
- Health
- New Indian Express
Stoppage of US funds likely to lead to more than 4mn AIDS deaths, says UN
NEW DELHI: Permanent discontinuation of US funds threatens to reverse gains achieved in HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention as it could lead to over four million additional AIDS-related deaths and around six million additional new HIV infections by 2029, a latest UNAIDS report says. The report, however, highlighted the remarkable efforts of communities and governments that have been key in bringing down the numbers of new HIV infections by 40% and AIDS-related deaths by 56% since 2010 – before the sudden stoppage of the US funding six months back triggered a crisis in global AIDS response. 'This is not just a funding gap – it's a ticking time bomb,' said UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima. 'We have seen services vanish overnight. Health workers have been sent home. And people – especially children and key populations – are being pushed out of care.' The 2025 Global AIDS Update, AIDS, Crisis and the Power to Transform report said a historic fund crunch is threatening to unravel decades of progress unless countries can make radical shifts in HIV programming and funding. 'Despite marked progress in the HIV response in 2024, the weakening aid consensus, and significant and abrupt funding shortfalls in the HIV response in 2025 have triggered widespread disruption across health systems and cuts to frontline health workers has halted HIV prevention programmes, jeopardising HIV treatment services,' the report said. 'In time of crisis, the world must choose transformation over retreat,' Byanyima said. 'Together, we can still end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 – if we act with urgency, unity, and unwavering commitment.'
Indian Express
11-07-2025
- Health
- Indian Express
Discontinuing AIDS funding could trigger 4 million deaths by 2029, says new report: What are implications for India?
A new UNAIDS report has cautioned that a permanent discontinuation of support from the United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) for HIV treatment and prevention could lead to more than four million additional AIDS-related deaths and six million additional new HIV infections by 2029. According to the UNAIDS report, titled '2025 Global AIDS Update – AIDS, Crisis and the Power to Transform,' a historic funding crisis is threatening to unravel decades of progress. It pointed out how communities and governments had brought down the numbers of new HIV infections by 40 per cent and of AIDS-related deaths by 56 per cent since 2010. It also noted how huge gaps in HIV prevention had remained, with 1.3 million new infections in 2024—almost unchanged from the year before. The sudden withdrawal of the single, biggest contributor to the global HIV response disrupted treatment and prevention programmes around the world in early 2025. International assistance accounts for 80 per cent of prevention programmes in low- and middle-income countries. UNAIDS modelling shows that if the funding permanently disappears, there could be an additional six million HIV infections and an additional four million AIDS-related deaths by 2029. At the same time, the number of countries criminalising the populations most at risk of HIV has risen for the first time since UNAIDS began reporting data. Worldwide 9.2 million people living with HIV did not access life-saving treatment services last year. Among those were 6,20,000 children aged 0—14 years. This resulted in 75,000 AIDS-related deaths among children in 2024. As per the new report, 25.6 lakh people were living with HIV in India in 2024. A total of 64,000 new infections were identified last year in the country and around 32,000 AIDS-related deaths were recorded. India's HIV prevalence peaked in 2000, showing a continuous decline for the past two decades with 0.55 per cent in 2000, to 0.32 per cent in 2010, 0.21 per cent in 2021 and 0.2 per cent in 2023. However experts are concerned about the resurgence of HIV given the rise in new infections, especially in young people. 'This is similar to the rising trend in Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), Human Papillomavirus-HPV, Hepatitis B and syphilis,' said Dr I S Gilada, president emeritus, AIDS Society of India. That's why he is advocating increasing tests and screening to minimise new infections. UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima said the funding gap was 'a ticking time bomb.' 'We have seen services vanish overnight. Health workers have been sent home. And people — especially children and key populations — are being pushed out of care,' Byanyima added. At a virtual press conference, Dr Beatriz Grinsztejn, IAS President told reporters, 'On the one hand, we are witnessing extraordinary scientific breakthroughs that could transform prevention and treatment and even bring us closer to a cure. On the other hand, these very advances are under threat from massive funding cuts that risk stalling clinical trials, slowing our progress, Now, more than ever, it is important for the world to hear directly from HIV researchers, scientists and affected communities.' As of December 2024, seven countries — Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, Rwanda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe—had achieved the 95-95-95 targets: 95 per cent of people living with HIV know their status, 95 per cent of those are on treatment, and 95 per cent of those on treatment are virally suppressed. The report also highlights the emergence of unprecedented, highly effective new prevention tools like long-acting injectable PrEP, including Lenacapavir, which has shown near-complete efficacy in clinical trials—though affordability and access remain key challenges. Anuradha Mascarenhas is a journalist with The Indian Express and is based in Pune. A senior editor, Anuradha writes on health, research developments in the field of science and environment and takes keen interest in covering women's issues. With a career spanning over 25 years, Anuradha has also led teams and often coordinated the edition. ... Read More
Mint
10-07-2025
- Health
- Mint
UNAIDS Calls Nations to Fill the Gap as Trump Pulls Funding
The United Nations program overseeing the fight against AIDS urged countries to step up with support to fight the disease as the Trump administration pulls back, and warned that a permanent halt in funding by the US would undo years of progress. 'This is not just a funding gap — it's a ticking time bomb,' UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima said in a statement accompanying the program's 2025 Global AIDS Update. 'We have seen services vanish overnight. Health workers have been sent home. And people — especially children and key populations — are being pushed out of care.' The report highlighted the effect of large-scale funding cuts from the US on countries most affected by HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The group estimates that a decision by the Trump administration to discontinue the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or Pepfar, would lead to more than four million additional AIDS-related deaths and more than six million additional new HIV infections by 2029. 'The end of aids by 2030 with figures like that is simply impossible,' UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director Angeli Achrekar told reporters on Thursday. The US mission to the UN could not immediately provide comment. Even before the disruption, 9.2 million people living with HIV were still not able to get access to life-saving treatment in 2024, according to the Global AIDS Update. The report also noted that the number of countries criminalizing populations most at risk of HIV has risen for the first time since UNAIDS began publishing data. Earlier: Cuts to US Aid Imperil World's Largest HIV Treatment Program Achrekar said the US was not the only country to take a step back, with some European nations also decreasing their contributions to AIDS prevention. While several low-to-middle income countries are making strides in the battle against AIDS, they still need support from donor countries, she said. Achrekar warned of the worst-case scenario if countries do not step up their efforts. 'We will go back to those days where death was on the doorstep' and the cost of AIDS treatment will increase, she said. Still, Achrekar said the hope is that AIDS stops being a public health threat by 2030, but nations have to come together 'as we did at the beginning of the HIV response.' Currently, the number of people getting infected with HIV and dying from AIDS-related causes are at their lowest in 30 years, the UN report's authors said. By the end of 2024, HIV infections were down by 40% and AIDS-related deaths by 56% since 2010. By 2030, five countries, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, were on track for a 90% decline in new infections. Pepfar had committed $4.3 billion to UNAIDS in 2025. With that financing suddenly withdrawn, treatment and prevention programs around the world were severely disrupted, the report said. Byanyima told Bloomberg in June that her organization had lost almost 50% of its funding. President Donald Trump has suspended funding from most foreign aid programs since his inauguration. A separate study from the British medical journal Lancet concluded that cuts to the US Agency for International Development could result in about 14 million additional deaths by 2030. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
