Funding cuts by the United States have severely damaged global organisations offering HIV treatment, according to a new report. The US HIV funding cuts, tied to the Trump administration’s reductions in support for PEPFAR (the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), have undermined HIV prevention and treatment across dozens of countries.
The report, issued Tuesday by HIV charity amfAR, surveyed 166 organisations across 46 countries that relied on PEPFAR funding. It found that organisations have been forced to shut clinics, cut staff and scale back services as a direct result of the cuts.
“Disruption Was Incredibly Widespread”
“Disruption was incredibly widespread,” said Elise Lankiewicz, amfAR’s policy associate and co-lead author of the report. She said no part of the programme escaped unscathed, including areas the US administration had previously claimed it would protect.
More than 1,700 clinics closed, and more than 16,000 workers lost their jobs after awards were delayed or cancelled, according to the report. About three-quarters of organisations stopped serving people most at risk of HIV, including sex workers, transgender people, gay men and people who inject drugs.
Children Among the Hardest Hit
Children were hit particularly hard by the cuts. PEPFAR-supported treatment reached about 77,000 fewer children in 2025, marking a 14 percent drop compared to the previous year.
The US Department of State has disputed the report’s findings, according to the Associated Press. The department claimed PEPFAR has grown stronger under clearer strategic direction, pointing to one-quarter of 2025 data showing treatment held steady. Researchers, however, said that snapshot conceals a larger decline that only becomes visible once a full year of data is combined.
UNAIDS Warns of Millions More Infections
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has warned that if the cuts become permanent, the world could see 6.6 million more HIV infections and 4.2 million more AIDS deaths by 2029.
The US is not alone in scaling back funding for AIDS and other global health programmes. France, Germany and the United Kingdom have also cut foreign assistance, leaving humanitarian groups reeling. UNAIDS itself lost about 25 percent of its funding last year, according to executive director Winnie Byanyima, who spoke to AFP from the sidelines of the African Union health summit in Accra.
“A Moment of Radical Change”
Byanyima said Africa needs to quickly adapt its health systems to keep its people alive and work toward health sovereignty, describing the current situation as a moment of radical change with no time to lose. Africa carries the highest HIV burden of any region in the world.
Launched by President George W. Bush in 2003, PEPFAR is credited with saving more than 26 million lives worldwide through US-backed HIV treatment and prevention programmes.
