The world could lose six million people in the next four years following US President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw foreign aid funds.
This is according to the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima, who warned that the world is at risk of experiencing another Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) pandemic and losing the progress made in treatment and prevention over the last two decades if the US does not restore the aid.
"If US aid funding is not restored, the world is at risk of the AIDS pandemic resurging globally, losing the progress in HIV treatment and prevention that we've made over the last 25 years," Byanyima explained.
According to Byanyima, there is a risk of an increase in infections, adding an excess of 2,000 new HIV infections each day and over six million further deaths over the next four years.
Shortly after his inauguration in January 2025, Trump withdrew foreign aid through an executive order that affected many countries that depended on the aid, including Kenya.
The sudden withdrawal of US foreign aid under President Trump had a significant impact on global HIV/AIDS efforts.
Programmes like PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), which had saved millions of lives since its inception, faced disruptions.
PEPFAR offers a wide range of services to both HIV/AIDS patients and support systems. It provided life-saving HIV care and treatment, prevention of mother-to-child transmission services, HIV testing services, and HIV care and treatment services, among others.
However, since the withdrawal, patients have been struggling to access medicine and care, exposing themselves and others to the risk of the disease.
To combat the situation and prevent it from reaching pandemic levels, Byanyima has called on the US government to consider restoring the aid.
"We urge a reconsideration and urgent restoration of life-saving services," the UNAIDS boss said.
The HIV pandemic officially began in 1981, when the first cases of AIDS were reported in the United States. The pandemic has been severe, affecting millions globally. According to UNAIDs data, by 2023, approximately 42.3 million people died from HIV-related causes.
At its peak in 1997, there were around 3.3 million new infections yearly, but global efforts have significantly reduced this number. Trump's move could however hamper this progress.
