The move from the UN agency dedicated to ending the disease came in response to an immediate 90-day funding pause for all foreign assistance laid out in an executive order by President Trump, including the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
PEPFAR is the world’s leading HIV initiative which directly supports more than 20 million people living with HIV, representing two-thirds of all people receiving HIV treatment globally.
The waiver approves the continuation or resumption of “life-saving humanitarian assistance,” which applies to core life-saving medicine and medical services, including HIV treatment, as well as supplies necessary to deliver such aid.
‘Critical role’
“UNAIDS welcomes this waiver from the US Government which ensures that millions of people living with HIV can continue to receive life-saving HIV medication during the assessment of US foreign development assistance,” said UNAIDS Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima.
“This urgent decision recognises PEPFAR’s critical role in the AIDS response and restores hope to people living with HIV.”
The funding pause of development assistance for “assessment of programmatic efficiencies and consistency with United States foreign policy,” was one of the first major foreign policy decisions of the new administration.
UNAIDS will continue efforts to ensure that all people living with or affected by HIV are served and that other key components of PEPFAR’s life-saving efforts, including service delivery and services for HIV prevention, care, and support for orphans and vulnerable children, are continued.
Immediate impact
Earlier, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) expressed deep concern about the implications of the funding pause for HIV programmes in low and middle-income countries.
These programmes provide access to life-saving HIV therapy to more than 30 million people worldwide. Globally, 39.9 million people were living with HIV at the end of 2023.
“Such measures, if prolonged, could lead to rises in new infections and deaths, reversing decades of progress and potentially taking the world back to the 1980s and 1990s when millions died of HIV every year globally, including many in the US,” said WHO in a statement issued before the Secretary of State’s emergency waiver was announced.
More than 26 million lives saved
PEPFAR has been a flagship initiative of the global HIV response since its establishment over 20 years ago, WHO stressed.
Any funding pause for PEPFAR would have a direct impact on millions of lives that depend on the predictable supply of safe and effective antiretroviral treatment.
PEPFAR works in over 50 countries around the world and has saved more than 26 million lives over the past two decades. Currently, PEPFAR is providing HIV treatment for more than 20 million people living with HIV globally, including 566,000 children under 15 years of age.
Growing self-reliance
WHO said that over the past year, PEPFAR and partners – including WHO – “have been working on sustainability plans with countries for greater country ownership and reduced donor support up to and beyond 2030.”
A sudden and prolonged stop to programmes would hamper a managed transition and puts the lives of millions at risk.
The agency said it would remain committed to supporting PEPFAR and other partners, as well as national governments, in managing change processes effectively to minimise the impact on people living with HIV.
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