HIV response at risk as global funding drops to 20-year low, UNAIDS warns

Global funding for HIV programmes fell to $7.3 billion in 2025, its lowest level in nearly two decades, prompting UNAIDS to warn that progress against the epidemic could unravel.

In a 60-page report issued on Monday at the start of an International AIDS Conference in Brazil, the UN agency said international HIV funding dropped 18 per cent last year. Even with higher domestic spending in some countries, total HIV resources still declined by 6pc.

UNAIDS said the setback threatened gains that had pushed new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths to their lowest levels in more than 30 years. “The international community has entered a period of profound political and financial upheaval that threatens decades of hard-won gains against HIV,” the agency said, adding: “Without renewed commitment and action, the world risks a resurgence of the HIV epidemic.”

Prevention programmes hit hard

The agency said disruption to funding had sharply affected prevention, testing and parts of treatment programmes, including community-led services aimed at people most affected by HIV.

Some of the steepest cuts to prevention spending were recorded in sub-Saharan Africa, which accounts for about half of new HIV infections worldwide. National data from Cameroon, Nigeria and Zambia showed that the number of people receiving pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, fell by more than 50pc.

UNAIDS said 1.2 million people contracted HIV last year and reiterated that the world was not on course to end AIDS by 2030. It said reduced funding, alongside other crises such as Ebola, was slowing the global response.

US role in financing

Before Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, Washington accounted for 75pc of international HIV funding. That month, he ordered a temporary halt to all HIV-related funding before restoring life-saving HIV work days later, though most prevention efforts remained curtailed.

UNAIDS said not all governments were able to compensate for the decline in foreign assistance, leaving major gaps in the response at a time of widening strain on services.

The agency said, “The current fragility of the HIV response puts these gains at risk unless global solidarity is restored and inequalities are addressed.”