THE World Health Organization (WHO) has urged the United States government to introduce exemptions that would ensure uninterrupted delivery of lifesaving HIV treatment and care.
This appeal followed President Donald Trump’s policy directing immediate funding pause for HIV programmes in low- and middle-income countries, putting millions of lives at risk.
The funding disruption, according to reports, has particularly affected the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a global initiative that has been instrumental in combating HIV for over two decades.
The ICIR reports that PEPFAR has been a lifeline for millions of people living with HIV, providing access to life-saving antiretroviral therapy (ART), with the medications not only keeping the virus in check but also preventing further transmission.
The project, launched in 2003 under former President George W. Bush, has reportedly provided antiretroviral therapy (ART) for over 20.6 million people worldwide. Its interventions also help to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV and have saved an estimated 26 million lives.
However, with the Trump administration halting U.S. foreign aid funding, Nigeria, among other countries now faces a critical shortage of these essential drugs.
“A funding halt for HIV programmes can put people living with HIV at immediate increased risk of illness and death and undermine efforts to prevent transmission in communities and countries,” WHO said in a statement on Tuesday, January 28.
The global health body feared a return to the devastating conditions of the 1980s and 1990s when millions died from HIV-related illnesses globally.
Beyond the immediate impact on treatment access, WHO warned that the funding freeze could disrupt scientific advancements in HIV care, including innovative diagnostics, affordable medicines, and community-based healthcare models.
“Such measures, if prolonged, could lead to rises in new infections and deaths, reversing decades of progress and potentially taking the world back to the 1980s and 1990s when millions died of HIV every year globally, including many in the United States of America.
“For the global community, this could result in significant setbacks to progress in partnerships and investments in scientific advances that have been the cornerstone of good public health programming, including innovative diagnostics, affordable medicines, and community delivery models of HIV care,” the statement added.
It, therefore, appealed to the US Government to enable exemptions to ensure the delivery of lifesaving HIV treatment and care.
Nigeria faces rising infections, strain on health system, experts warn
In a similar development, concerns have been raised by Nigerian public health experts, including medical advocate Egemba Fidelis, popularly known as Aproko Doctor.
Aproko Doctor warned that the decision could lead to a surge in infections, an increase in AIDS-related deaths, and further strain on Nigeria’s fragile healthcare system.
The public health expert, in a post on X, on Tuesday, January 28, while reacting to the funding cut, outlined the potential consequences if Nigeria failed to act.
“If Nigeria doesn’t rise to the occasion and take charge, infections will rise, currently it’s close to 200,000 infections every year, people will die from AIDS, (and) drugs are not available. Our already burdened healthcare system will be burdened further which might be make or break,” he warned.
He further noted that beyond HIV/AIDS, the funding pause would also affect programmes tackling tuberculosis and malaria.
He warned that these diseases, which already pose significant public health challenges, could become more difficult to control, further overwhelming the country’s medical infrastructure.
The ICIR reports that Nigeria has long relied on donor support to sustain its health programme, with the latest development leaving many vulnerable Nigerians in limbo.
According to reports, Nigeria bears the heaviest HIV burden in Sub-Saharan Africa, with about two million people living with HIV in the country. In 2020 alone, AIDS-related deaths in Nigeria were estimated at approximately 49,000 across all age groups.
While there is no cure for HIV infection, access to effective HIV prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care, including for opportunistic infections, has made HIV infection a manageable chronic health condition and enabled people living with HIV to live long and healthy lives.
Calling on the government to take ownership of its health system, another public health expert, Chioma Nwakanma-Akanno, noted that the “Time to step up was years ago, the second best time is now!”
“Awoof (free) funding is unsustainable. Lives will be lost if you don’t step up! People who have attained U=U with HIV could relapse. HIV can become AIDS, and that would be tragic,” Nwakanma-Akanno wrote on her X handle.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: umustapha@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M