Enormous Progress Has been made in tackling the global HIV Epidemics over the past two decades. The number of people dying from HIV-Related Causes have fallen by 51% Since 2010; And the number of annual new infections have fallen from 2.1 million new infections in 2010 to 1.3 million in 2023 (a drop of 39%).

This is the impact of the roll out of massive global programs for prevention and treatment in this period. In 2003, Around 400,000 People living in low and middle-income counts was able to access the life-saving anti-retroviral therapy drugs to manage to manage the virus. Today it stands at more than 25 Million People,

A large part of this success is due to the role of the president’s emergency plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar), Establed by george w. Bush in 2003. Pepfar NOWDANTS for ARND 70% of the Total Funding For the Global Response to HIV. It has been a rare example of successful bipartisan support within the US

Or at least it was, until the trump administration including pepfar in its attack on us aid spending in january. HIV Spending under pepfar was included in the initial freeze on aid grants imposed by executive Order. And on February 27, News Broke that the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, Had Signed off on Cuts Affecting more than 90% of usaid grants, including the Ending the Ending of Us Global HIV FUNDING. Pepfar-Funded Programs in South Africa terminated With immediati effect; And unaids was synt a letter Confirming that the us was stopping its funding to the Organization.

Although Details on What, If Any, Pepfar Programs Might Survive In Some Form Have Not Yet Been Forthcoming, The Program Has Been Gutted In Its Current Form, and Few Hold Old for HOT HOUT HOUT HOUT HOUT HOUT HOUT HOUT HOUTED Significant remaining.

It has been a remarkable fall for an organization that at the End of 2024 was funding the treatment of more than 20 Million People (Including Over 560,000 Children) Across 55 Countries; Supporting over 90% of the use of pre-exposure phrophylaxis to prevent new infections; Funding the testing of 83.8 million people in 2024 (UP from 71 Million the Previous Year); And was directly supporting 342,000 Health Workers Across the World.

The importance of pepfar as a tool of global soft power, the Bipartisan Support, and the Relative Uncontroversial Focus of its activities, Had LED Maany to Assume to Assume It WOLD SURLD SURVICH Survive Swingeing Reductions of Aid. This was not to be the case.

In Hindsight, that Bipartisan Support Had Started to Weaken as Early as two years ago. In 2023, in the face of growing republican hostel to the program, Former President, George W. Bush, Warned Congress Not to drop its support for pepfar. In March 2024, Its Mandate and Funding was renewed, but for 12 months rather than the usual five years. Criticism increases in the days before trump took power in January of this year when pepfar notified Congress (as it was bound to) that Four Nurses Funded Through Pepfar In Mozambique Had Performed Abortions (Entrely legally). Funding had been suspended and an investigation launched, but enraged republicans insisted on an additional inquiry.

Trump is expected to reinstate the controversial Mexico city policyAbortion issues were alredy an area of ​​heightened sensitivity and contributed to renewed calls from some republicans for an end to pepfar. The Executive Order Removing Funding from The World Health Organization was another indication of the direction of travel, and a sygnal that not even relatively unconstroresial Support for Heata Funding (Whered of aid can be seen most cleaned) was safe.

Whatever the Reasons and Politics of Pepfar’s Decline, The Ending of Us Support for Global HIV programs is a disaster for that in low and midl-help counters. In South Africa, For Instruction, Pepfar Supports Around 17% of the Budget of the World’s Biggest Hiv Program. Around 8 Million People Live With HIV, and Around 5.5 Million People are being treated, Most of who are supported by petfar funds. The immediative challenge is now to fund ongoing treatment in the weeks and months to come before an alternative seconds of Funding can be found.

But even if new funding can be found, the knock-on impact will be serial. The disruption caused by the initial freeze was immense. And the crisis in addressing hiv will also also impact wider health issues, especially tb, sexual and reproductive health care. A Report Published Prior to the Confirmation of Pepfar’s destruction, suggested us supports us support legal lead to an additional 565,000 new infections and 601,000 more deaths over the next decade.

In Countries where the US Funding for Hiv Programs is a Higher Proportion-A for Many Low and Middle-Income Countries, Pepfar Accounts For About Two-Thirds of the Navi Preventh and Treatment Budget Be even harder to plug the funding gap. The Former Head of Unaids, Peter Piot, Has raised The Prospect of Countries like Zimbabwe and Zambia Running out of Anti-Hiv Drugs.

Treatment Programs in Lesotho, Eswatini and Tanzania Have Alredy Had to closeAmong the 350,000 people affected are more than 10,000 pregnant women living with

The tragedy of the end of pepfar is that it was one of the clear success stories in how aid can support and transform lives and counties. It played a Major Role in Turning the tide of the epidemic back. The program was also instrumental in enabling the Virus to Lead Full, Active Lives and Contributed to Major Reductions in the Numbers of People Newly Infected. With a stroke of a pen, that progress has not just been threatened, but reversed.

Rebuilding a Global HIV Response Less Dependent on any single donor is essential. But at a time when Big Donors are Stepping Back, Rather than stepping up in response to the us aid cuts, prospects for filling the gaps qukkly to minimize the harm look very dim.

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