HIV funding fell by $2bn last year fuelled by Trump’s aid cuts, new reports find
HIV funding fell by $2bn last year fuelled by Trump’s aid cuts, new reports find
Liz CookmanTue, July 28, 2026 at 2:30 PM UTC
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Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of the World Health Organisation (WHO) speaks during the International AIDS Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, this week. (AFP/Getty)
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Funding for HIV responses in low- and middle-income countries fell by $2.1 billion (£1.6bn) last year after the Trump administration made substantial cuts to global health funding.
Donor funds decreased by a quarter compared to the previous year, putting decades of progress to combat HIV at risk, new reports from KFF and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS show. It marks the lowest funding level since 2007, with total disbursements dropping to from $8.3 billion in 2024 to $6.2bn in 2025.
Combined with cuts to HIV prevention and community services, the reductions are likely to lead to a resurgence of the AIDS epidemic, the UN agency has warned.
The primary driver of the fall was the Trump administration’s decision to slash funds for foreign assistance programmes under its America First Global Health Strategy. It calls for an estimated $7.3 billion drop in total foreign aid spending by 2030.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) was dismantled and thousands of overseas aid awards were terminated, with health systems particularly impacted.
The US is still the largest donor to HIV prevention and treatment programmes across the world, but officials have said they want other countries to contribute more. Contributions from other donor countries have dropped nearly 50 per cent since 2011.
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Research published last week revealed that the cuts had led to more than 1,700 HIV treatment clinics and service sites closing around the world and at least 16,000 health workers losing their jobs.
The cuts caused “severe and devastating” disruption to dozens of countries around the world, researchers from the Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR), found.
Researchers warned that they found almost no organisations were able to replace lost US funding, while domestic governments often lacked the resources to take over services, with key populations – such as LGBTQI people and sex workers – often criminalised.
"It’s like bailing out a sinking ship without actually patching the hole,” Elise Lankiewicz, a policy associate at amfAR, told The Independent.
The effects have been particularly evident across much of eastern and southern Africa, where governments focused on maintaining treatment after the cuts but scaled back community HIV testing, prevention programmes and peer support workers that help bring people into care.
Hunted: Kidnapped, blackmailed and tortured for being LGBTQ+, a documentary for Independent TV by chief foreign correspondent Bel Trew, exposed the world of “kito” attacks in Nigeria. Members of the LGBTQ+ community are catfished online, kidnapped, tortured and extorted by gangs in a rising surge in violence and hatred.
Amid unprecedented aid cuts, survivors also contend with the collapse of the clinics and shelters that once helped them.
This article has been produced as part of The Independent’s Rethinking Global Aid project
Source: “AOL Breaking”
