The world faces the threat of a renewed HIV epidemic as international funding for AIDS prevention and treatment fell by nearly 18 percent last year, UNAIDS cautioned on Monday. The UN agency highlighted that this decline in financial support could jeopardize the significant progress achieved in reducing HIV infections globally.
Previously, the United States contributed approximately 75 percent of the international HIV funding. However, after President Donald Trump assumed office in January 2025, he temporarily suspended HIV-related funding. Although life-saving programs were reinstated within days, many prevention initiatives have since been scaled back, raising concerns about future containment efforts.
In a comprehensive 60-page report released at the start of the International AIDS conference in Brazil, UNAIDS emphasized that the international community is experiencing profound political and financial instability that threatens decades of hard-won gains against HIV. The report warned that without renewed commitment and decisive action, the world risks a resurgence of the epidemic.
Funding for HIV dropped to $7.3 billion in 2025, marking the lowest level in nearly 20 years. This decline endangers the progress that has brought new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths to their lowest levels in over three decades. UNAIDS stressed that the fragile state of the HIV response puts these achievements at risk unless global solidarity is restored and inequalities addressed.
The report also reiterated that the global target to end AIDS by 2030 is off course, hindered not only by funding cuts but also by other health crises such as Ebola. Last year, approximately 1.2 million people contracted HIV worldwide.
While reductions in foreign aid were partially offset by increased domestic spending, the overall resources for HIV fell by 6 percent in 2025. However, not all governments were able to compensate for the shortfall. Sub-Saharan Africa, which accounts for about half of new HIV infections globally, experienced some of the largest declines in prevention program funding.
National data from Cameroon, Nigeria, and Zambia revealed more than a 50 percent decrease in the number of individuals receiving pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). UNAIDS highlighted that disruptions in HIV funding severely impacted prevention, testing, and essential treatment components, including community-led services that reach populations most affected by HIV.
