Latest news with #BeatrizGrinsztejn
Scoop
16-07-2025
- Health
- Scoop
IAS Welcomes US Bipartisan Move To Protect PEPFAR
16 July 2025 (Kigali, Rwanda) – IAS – the International AIDS Society – welcomes the bipartisan move in the US Senate to protect the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) from proposed USD 400 million cuts in President Trump's rescission package. However, both the Senate and House must still vote on the final rescission package, and further changes could be reintroduced before the statutory deadline for action. 'PEPFAR has been one of the greatest success stories in global health, transforming the HIV response,' IAS President Beatriz Grinsztejn said. 'Global advocacy played a crucial role in persuading US lawmakers to protect this vital programme, reminding them that decisions about PEPFAR shape the health and futures of people around the world. Yet uncertainty remains, with ongoing threats to global health funding. We must stay vigilant.' IAS President-Elect Kenneth Ngure emphasized the importance of the decision for the African continent. 'PEPFAR is a lifeline for communities across Africa,' he said. 'Restoring this funding would mean hope for people living with and affected by HIV. But African leadership must remain at the centre of shaping our response, and we need to keep advancing conversations about sustainable financing – including stronger domestic investments and strategies to reduce dependence on global donors.' The IAS calls for swift action to protect essential HIV services and urges all leaders to ensure continued investments that save lives and support global health. About the International AIDS Society IAS – the International AIDS Society – convenes, educates and advocates for a world in which HIV no longer presents a threat to public health and individual well-being. After the emergence of HIV and AIDS, concerned scientists created the IAS to bring together experts from across the world and disciplines to promote a concerted HIV response. Today, the IAS and its members unite scientists, policy makers and activists to galvanize the scientific response, build global solidarity and enhance human dignity for all those living with and affected by HIV. The IAS also hosts the world's most prestigious HIV conferences: the International AIDS Conference, the IAS Conference on HIV Science and the HIV Research for Prevention Conference.
Scoop
08-07-2025
- Health
- Scoop
Experts At The 13th IAS Conference On HIV Science Warn Global HIV Gains At Risk Amid Sudden Funding Cuts
Researchers present predictive modelling and real-world data from Africa and Latin America revealing rising HIV acquisitions, stalled treatment and fragile health systems 8 July 2025 (Kigali, Rwanda) – IAS 2025, the 13th IAS Conference on HIV Science, taking place in Kigali, Rwanda, and virtually from 13 to 17 July, will feature an array of studies that address the current political and financial issues affecting the HIV response, including the implications for Africa and around the world. Recent global funding cuts have fundamentally disrupted the HIV response, threatening life-saving research, prevention and care. Abstracts presented at the conference will give a detailed look at the stark impact of the cuts. They will also show how experts and advocates are working on the ground to confront these new and urgent challenges. 'This year's conference takes place at a paradoxical moment for all of us who have dedicated our careers to ending the HIV pandemic,' IAS President Dr Beatriz Grinsztejn said. 'On the one hand, we're 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, and jeopardizing the progress we've fought so hard to achieve.' Now, more than ever, it is important for the world to hear directly from HIV researchers, scientists and affected communities. Today's scientific highlights press conference featured four studies that were selected from hundreds of abstracts being presented at IAS 2025. 'The sudden cuts to US funding have been deeply felt across the African continent by the millions of people who rely on HIV prevention, testing and treatment services, and by the researchers and health workers striving to end the pandemic,' IAS President-Elect Prof Kenneth Ngure said. 'The studies discussed at IAS 2025 offer real-world insights into how these actions are impacting vulnerable populations and the impact they could cause in the future.' Modelling of the projected impact on HIV incidence, mortality and PrEP access among key populations in sub-Saharan Africa HIV incidence and related deaths look set to significantly increase in sub-Saharan Africa as a result of funding for PrEP being halted under the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), according to a pre-print modelling study, which was presented by lead author Dr Jack Stone, Associate Professor in Infectious Disease Mathematical Modelling at the University of Bristol. PrEP funded by PEPFAR was received by nearly 700,000 people living across 28 sub-Saharan African countries by late 2024. Funding for this medicine was paused in January 2025. The study indicates that this pause could lead to around 6,671 extra HIV acquisitions over a year and 3,617 further acquisitions over the next five years. More than 2,900 of the additional acquisitions are projected to be among gay and bisexual men who have sex with men, while more than 2,000 are shown to be among female sex workers. Findings of the study also estimated increases in HIV acquisition levels will exceed 5% in eight of the 27 countries for men who have sex with men, two countries for people who inject drugs, five countries for trans women and six countries for female sex workers. 'Ceasing PEPFAR's funding for PrEP in sub-Saharan Africa will remove approximately 700,000 individuals from using oral PrEP. If this continued for one year, then 10,000 additional infections could occur over the next five years, with many of these infections being among gay and bisexual men who have sex with men and female sex workers,' Dr Stone said. 'It is crucial that funding is found to continue and expand PrEP services in sub-Saharan Africa.' Session and abstract: Co-Chair's choice: Modelling the impact of cuts in PEPFAR funding for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis among key populations in sub-Saharan Africa, Oral (6731, Track C) Real-time evidence from Mozambique on how funding cuts have disrupted HIV services and strained national health systems The US funding freeze had an immediate impact on Mozambique, as detailed in the real-world study presented by Anna Grimsrud, Senior Technical Advisor at the International AIDS Society, on behalf of the study team. Mozambique has the third highest number of people living with HIV globally, and health facilities serve approximately 2 million of the 2.4 million people living with HIV. To evaluate the impact of the US executive order on HIV services, the authors compared select indicators from the country's district health information system in February 2024 and February 2025. They found that there was a 25% reduction in ART initiation among adults, from over 22,000 to just over 17,000, in February 2025 compared to February 2024. Among those on treatment, there was a 38% reduction in viral load tests performed. There was also a 37% reduction in test results received and a 33% reduction in the number of results showing viral suppression. Among children, there was a 44% reduction in viral load tests, a 71% reduction in test results received and a 43% reduction in virally suppressed results, indicating a disproportionate impact on the paediatric population. The study projected that, if the funding interruption persists, Mozambique could see an estimated increase of 83,000 new HIV acquisitions (a 15% rise) and 14,000 additional HIV-related deaths (a 10% increase) by the year 2030. Session and abstract: Co-Chair's choice: The impact of the U.S. funding interruption on HIV services and the HIV epidemic in Mozambique, Oral (6810, Track E) On-the-ground report from South Africa showing how funding cuts stalled progress toward ending the HIV pandemic In Johannesburg, South Africa, funding cuts hindered progress made toward ending the HIV epidemic, according to an abstract presented by Khensani Chauke of the Gauteng Provincial Department of Health, Pretoria, South Africa. Johannesburg was the recipient of the Accelerating Program Achievements to Control HIV Epidemic (APACE) award, funded through PEPFAR, to support achievement of the 95-95-95 goals. However, the award was withdrawn in February 2025. This impacted key healthcare workers, including counsellors providing community-based HIV testing to vulnerable populations. The study team assessed the impact of the award termination by comparing HIV tests, HIV diagnoses and ART initiations from 2023 to 2025. They found that testing decreased by 8.5% from Q1 2024 to Q1 2025. There was also a 31% decline in HIV diagnoses and a 30% decline in ART initiations. HIV positivity declined from 3% to 2.2%. Session and abstract: Cascades of HIV prevention, treatment and care: Termination of the USAID APACE award in Johannesburg, South Africa: Impact on the number of people living with HIV tested, diagnosed and initiated on anti-retroviral therapy (ART) (January-March 2023-2025), Poster (6823, Track C) Reports from organizations in 13 Latin American countries on how funding suspensions have impacted the HIV response in that region Meg Stevenson from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health presented data showing how Latin American and Caribbean organizations focused on HIV have been impacted by the suspension of US foreign aid. Researchers distributed an online survey to 40 community-based HIV service organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean between 18 February and 14 March 2025. Funding cuts began in late January. The survey found that 21 of 24 (87%) of participating organizations that reported receipt of US funding in the last year had their funds suspended. These cuts represent an average of nearly 50% of the organizations' annual budgets. In some cases, it was 100% of their budgets. Funding cuts affected programmes that were providing HIV prevention and treatment, as well as ancillary services, to adults and children. Session and abstract: Global and national financing, economic evaluation and sustainability: Impact of US-funding suspensions on HIV response in the Latin America and Caribbean region, Poster (6842, Track E) Call to action for debt refinancing to protect HIV response Zackie Achmat, founder of the Treatment Action Campaign and a member of the Global HIV Treatment Coalition, joined the press conference and shared a call to action on the urgent need for debt refinancing to protect the HIV response in low- and middle-income countries. 'You can't end the AIDS pandemic while African nations must choose between paying creditors and saving lives,' Achmat said. 'As someone who has lived with HIV for more than half my life, I have seen the cost of political inaction. We fought for treatment when the world said it was impossible. Now, the convergence of crushing debt and funding cuts threatens everything we've built. We need urgent debt restructuring so African countries can invest in saving lives instead of servicing debt.' Note: The summaries above are primarily based on submitted abstracts, but in some cases, study teams have provided updated or additional information. Final data presented at the conference may change.
The Guardian
28-01-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Charities reeling from USAid freeze warn of ‘life or death' effects
Clinics in Uganda are scrambling to find new sources for vital HIV drugs, aid workers in Bangladesh fear refugee camp infrastructure will crumble, and mobile health units may have to stop treating civilians near the frontline in Ukraine. Services worldwide have been thrown into disarray by President Donald Trump's executive order, signed on Monday 20 January and published on Friday halting US foreign aid funding flows for 90 days for review. A few exemptions include military aid to Israel and emergency humanitarian food assistance, but charities said the sudden announcement – which included instructions for any US-funded work already in progress to stop immediately – had put lives at risk. The US president's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar) is included in the order. It provides antiretrovirals to 20 million people with HIV globally, and funds test kits and preventive medicine supplies for millions more. Already, clinics worldwide are reporting that supplies have been halted. 'This is a matter of life or death,' said Beatriz Grinsztejn, president of the International Aids Society, , adding that stopping Pepfar would be disastrous. 'If that happens, people are going to die and HIV will resurge.' Brian Aliganyira runs a health clinic for the LGBT+ community in Kampala, Uganda. He said the presidential order had brought supplies to a standstill. Ark Wellness Hub relies on Pepfar for testing kits, medication to prevent and treat HIV and running costs. 'Today is crazy,' he said on Monday. 'We are worried. As I'm chatting with you now, I'm amid lots of emails and trying to find who can stock up our supplies and drugs. Supply chains [are] all affected.' Asia Russell, executive director of Health Gap, an advocacy group for HIV patients, said clinics worldwide were facing the same situation. A stop work order was not needed to carry out a review of aid, she said. 'This is wasteful, inefficient and doesn't keep America safe or make it more prosperous or secure – whereas Pepfar actually does all of those things. This was a deliberate decision to sow chaos and confusion, no matter the human cost.' She said any prolonged shutdown would mean 'halting service delivery, firing staff, shutting down clinics, rolling back outreach'. 'You don't recover from that kind of whiplash overnight,' she added. The US is the largest single aid donor globally, and disbursed $72bn (£58bn) in the 2023 financial year. The humanitarian sector had been braced for the impact of Trump policies such as the reintroduction of the global gag rule and threatened defunding of UN agencies, but the stoppage of currently funded projects came as a shock. Many aid sector organisations said on Monday they were still assessing whether their programmes were affected. Andriy Klepikov, executive director of the Alliance for Public Health in Ukraine, said: 'Mobile integrated medical services to people in remote locations closely located to the frontline are impacted. We provide mobile medical services to people in the areas where there are no clinics, doctors or nurses. This is a very demanded and effective programme. 'I hope Ukraine – being amid the war – will receive a waiver to continue such critical services. Or at least the review will be done in a priority order.' Abby Maxman, president of Oxfam America, said the future looked grim 'for US foreign assistance and the people around the world who rely on it, who are living through humanitarian disasters and struggling simply to survive'. 'We will see life or death consequences for millions around the globe, as programmes that depend on this funding grind to a halt without any plan or safety net. Aid experts are unable to operate or plan if they don't know when funding will arrive, or how much,' she said. 'Funding for emergency food has been carved out as one exception, but funding for clean water, sanitation, healthcare and more has not been and are just as vital to survival for people living through crisis. We need to see these programmes allowed to proceed.' There has been concern about the impacts of the cuts on hundreds of refugee camps globally – from Chad to Nigeria – where displaced people are especially reliant on aid. A million people live in sprawling camps in Bangladesh, where the US provided 55% of funding for the Rohingya humanitarian response and which had already seen a drop in funding last year. An aid worker there, who wished to remain anonymous, said they were assessing 'what are the most critical life-saving activities to prioritise'. Dr Atul Gawande, who was assistant administrator for global health at USAid under the Biden administration, said the order had done 'serious damage to the world and the US'. As well as hitting HIV programmes, it would stop work fighting a deadly Marburg outbreak in Tanzania and an mpox variant killing children in west Africa, he said. It will also affect programmes monitoring the spread of bird flu, and working to eradicate polio and tropical diseases such as river blindness and lymphatic filariasis, he said, as well as services providing healthcare for pregnant women and childhood vaccinations. In a social media post, Gawande said: 'Make no mistake – these essential, lifesaving activities are being halted right now. Clinics are shuttering. Workers sent home. Partners including US small businesses face being unable to meet payroll.' Asked about potential waivers allowing Pepfar and other programmes to continue, and how services were being prioritised for review, a US state department spokesperson said it was 'judiciously reviewing all the waivers submitted'. The One campaign, co-founded in 2004 by the U2 singer Bono, estimated that nearly 3 million children could be at higher risk of malaria if the president's malaria initiative paused work for 90 days. Thomas Byrnes, who runs a consulting firm specialising in the humanitarian sector, said the sudden stop-work orders would have a harsh, far-reaching impact because of the extent the global system relies on US funding. The US provides 42.3% of global aid funding, according to the UN, and as much as 54% of the World Food Programme's funding. Byrnes said the 'unprecedented' freeze was 'forcing organisations to halt programmes abruptly, leading to job losses and reduction in essential services to vulnerable populations'. 'They are so abrupt, there's no cool-down period – it's not in 30 days or 60 days. You have to stop now.'
