The head of the UN’s AIDS program warned that millions more people could die from AIDS as a result of Donald Trump’s decision to halt US financing for the disease abroad.
The head of the UN’s AIDS program warned Sunday that millions more people could die from AIDS as a result of President Donald Trump’s decision to halt US financing for the disease abroad. With the majority of its funding going through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the United States is the largest official development assistance provider in the world.
When Trump took office again in January, he ordered that the majority of US foreign aid be suspended for three months, leaving humanitarians around the world to deal with the consequences.
According to UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima, “it’s dramatic in many countries,” she told AFP.
In order to make it abundantly evident that this constitutes a significant portion of the financing for AIDS relief, I must raise the alarm. People will perish if it disappears.”
The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) was suspended for 90 days as part of the US action, but his administration later granted exceptions for medications covered by the program.
Deaths have increased tenfold.
According to a Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) research, that initiative serves almost 20 million HIV patients and 270,000 health workers.
According to Byanyima, who used UNAIDS predictions, “we could see additional deaths increasing by tenfold” to 6.3 million in five years.
She stated, “Or we could see new infections increase up to 8.7 million” during that time frame.
Frontline workers in Africa claim that institutions have already closed, despite the United States’ declaration that “life-saving treatments” will not be affected by the moratorium.
Speaking on the sidelines of the African Union conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Byanyima said she had spoken with leaders about the problem and urged them to use home resources instead of foreign funding.
However, she pointed out that several African countries owed “more than 50 percent of their entire revenue collections” in debt, which made it impossible for them to even start filling the possible gap.
Pushing aggressively for a quick and comprehensive debt restructure is part of the solution, she said.
“For many of them, debt is crowding out what could be spent on health and education.”
Established in 1961, USAID allocates almost $40 billion annually to fund humanitarian, health, and development initiatives worldwide, particularly in developing nations.
