Sweeping cuts to US aid leave millions of the world's most vulnerable in danger, warns UN

YEARS of American-led investment into Aids programmes has reduced the number of people killed by the disease to the lowest levels seen in more than three decades and provided lifesaving medicines for some of the world’s most vulnerable.

- Maria Cheng, of the Associated Press, reports

But in the past six months, the sudden withdrawal of US money has caused a “systemic shock”, UN officials warned, adding that if the funding isn’t replaced, it could lead to more than four million Aids-related deaths and six million more HIV infections by 2029.

A new UNAids report released on Thursday said the funding losses had “already destabilised supply chains, led to the closure of health facilities, left thousands of health clinics without staff, set back prevention programmes, disrupted HIV testing efforts and forced many community organizations to reduce or halt their HIV activities.”

It also said that it feared other major donors scaled back their support, reversing decades of progress against Aids worldwide - and that the strong multilateral cooperation is in jeopardy because of wars, geopolitical shifts and climate change.

The $4bn that the United States pledged for the global HIV response for 2025 disappeared virtually overnight in January, when US President Donald Trump ordered that all foreign aid be suspended, and later moved to shutter the USAid agency.