3 Million People Could Die Due to HIV Funding Cuts
A new study claims that almost 11 million more HIV infections, and 3 million deaths, could result from the loss of global HIV funding.
A new study claims that nearly 11 million more people could become infected with HIV, and 3 million could die by the end of the decade, due to foreign aid cuts impacting funding for HIV prevention and treatment.
Published in The Lancet HIV, the study estimates the potential public health impact of proposed foreign aid cuts by the five donor countries that account for 90% of all international HIV funding.
Those countries are the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the Netherlands.
The greatest impact of the cuts would be felt in sub-Saharan Africa and among vulnerable or marginalized populations at higher risk of HIV, including children, injection-drug users, sex workers, and men who have sex with men, reports Politico.
The United States has slashed funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development, including funding for HIV treatment and prevention programs.
The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, a program focusing on reducing HIV incidence globally funded through multiple government agencies — which has been credited with saving 26 million lives since its implementation in 2003 — is also at risk.
In February, the United Kingdom announced a planned cut to international spending, while the Netherlands is cutting foreign aid by 2.4 billion euros, or approximately $2.6 billion in U.S. dollars.
Germany and France cut their foreign aid budgets last year, representing a loss of about 3 billion euros.
Using mathematical modeling, researchers found that the planned reductions in international aid, plus discontinued PEPFAR support, could result in between 4.43 to 10.75 million new HIV infections by 2030. That could likely result in as many as 3 million HIV-related deaths, compared to the status quo.
The study found that if PEPFAR support were reinstated, the number of new infections would be reduced to 1.73 million with 61,000 HIV-related deaths. The impact of loss of funding was felt more acutely in countries that are heavily reliant upon international funding and in countries whee HIV rates among key populations.
The study coincides with warnings from HIV prevention advocates that the abrupt cancellation of USAID money would likely only accelerate the spread of HIV.
According to the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the HIV Medicine Association, dozens of USAID programs that implement PEPFAR have been shut down in countries with a high incidence of HIV.
Halting HIV treatment for those who have begun it can also lead to the development of drug-resistant HIV that would be much harder to control.
“The current cuts to PEPFAR and USAID-supported programs have already disrupted access to essential HIV services including for antiretroviral therapy and HIV prevention and testing,” Debra ten Brink, of the Burnet Institute, and the co-lead author of the study, told Politico in a statement. She warned that, if other donor countries also reduce their funding, “decades of progress to treat and prevent HIV could be unravelled.”
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