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The world risks a resurgence of the HIV epidemic after global funding fell by nearly a fifth last year, the UN body fighting AIDS said on Monday.
Washington previously accounted for 75 per cent of international HIV funding before President Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January 2025. That month, he ordered a temporary halt to all HIV-related funding before restoring life-saving HIV work days later, although most prevention efforts were curtailed.
“The international community has entered a period of profound political and financial upheaval that threatens decades of hard-won gains against HIV,“ UNAIDS said in its 60-page report released at the start of an International AIDS conference in Brazil. “Without renewed commitment and action, the world risks a resurgence of the HIV epidemic.”
Funding fell by 18pc to $7.3 billion in 2025, which was the lowest level in nearly two decades, the report said. That risks reversing progress that has driven down new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths to their lowest level in more than 30 years, it said.
