'Over 6m people at risk of death if Trump doesn't reverse cut on USAID funding'

The United Nations AIDS agency, UNAIDS, has warned that over six million people could die from HIV and AIDS within four years if the United States withdraws funding for treatment programs.

UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director, Christine Stegling, issued the warning while speaking to reporters in Geneva on Friday.

He noted that although HIV/AIDS programs were exempted from last month’s US foreign aid funding freeze, concerns remain about the long-term sustainability of treatment efforts.

The agency emphasized the devastating human cost of any funding cuts and urged continued support to prevent a major setback in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

“There is a lot of confusion, especially on the community level, about how the waiver will be implemented. We’re seeing a lot of disruption in the delivery of treatment services,” Stegling said.

Upon taking office on January 20, former US President Donald Trump placed hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid on hold for 90 days.

However, in the following days, the US State Department granted a waiver for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the world’s largest HIV initiative, allowing life-saving humanitarian assistance to continue.

While welcoming the waiver, UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director Stegling cautioned that uncertainty remains. He warned that if PEPFAR funding is not reauthorized between 2025 and 2029, AIDS-related deaths could rise by 400% amid a broader decline in global funding.

“That’s 6.3 million people, 6.3 million AIDS-related deaths that will occur in future…Any penny, any cut, any pause will matter for all of us.

“In Ethiopia, we have 5,000 public health worker contracts that are funded by U.S. assistance. And all of these have been terminated,” she said, urging UN member states to step in.

She also highlighted that community clinics faced the biggest interruption as they depend entirely on US government funding.

She expressed concern that some people may not come forward for treatment, which could, in turn, increase new HIV infections.