UN Reminds Potential Death Of 6 Million People Due To HIV/AIDS If Trump Stops Aid

UNSPLASH/Bermix Studio ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - The UN AIDS Agency warned that more than six million people could die from HIV and AIDS in the next four years if US President Donald Trump's administration withdraws global funding for these programs.

Although the HIV/AIDS program was exempted from freezing US foreign aid funds last month, there are still many concerns about the future of the treatment program.

There is a lot of confusion, especially at the community level, how this waiver will be implemented. We see a lot of interference in providing treatment services," said UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director Christine Stegling.

Trump postponed donations of foreign aid worth hundreds of millions of dollars over 90 days after taking office on January 20. In the following days, the US State Department issued an exception to the Presidential Emergency Plan for AIDS Assistance (PEPFAR) a leading HIV initiative in the world for life-saving humanitarian aid.

While respnsing on the exception, Stegling emphasized that the situation was still chaotic.

Amid a broader decline in funding, Stegling warned there would be a 400 percent increase in AIDS deaths if PEPFAR financial support was not granted back between 2025 and 2029.

That means 6.3 million people, 6.3 million AIDS-related deaths that will occur in the future. "Whatever the cents, any cuts, any pauses, will mean to all of us," he said.

In Ethiopia, we have 5,000 public health worker contracts funded by US aid. And everything has been discontinued," Stegling said.

He highlighted community clinics facing the biggest disruption as they rely "completely" on US government funding.

He expressed concern some may not want to seek treatment, which in turn could increase new HIV infections.

The US donation is the majority of global funding for the United Nations program operating in 70 countries, leading global efforts to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.

The Trump administration said it was reviewing all foreign aid programs to see if the program was in line with the America First policy it was carrying.