Global HIV Gains At Risk As Funding Cuts Threaten Lifesaving Progress, Experts Warn At IAS 2025
Princess-Ekwi Ajide
As the 13th International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference on HIV Science kicks off in Kigali, experts have sounded a stark warning: recent global funding cuts are jeopardising decades of progress in the fight against HIV, particularly in vulnerable regions like sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.
Held both in-person and virtually from 13–17 July, IAS 2025 is already shining a spotlight on a growing crisis—one driven not by science, but by shrinking political and financial commitment.
“This year’s conference comes at a moment of contradiction,” said IAS President Dr Beatriz Grinsztejn. “While we’re witnessing scientific breakthroughs with the potential to bring us closer to a cure, those very advances are now under threat due to sudden, severe cuts in funding.”
Among the most sobering revelations is new modelling presented by Dr Jack Stone of the University of Bristol. His findings project that the suspension of funding for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) under the U.S. PEPFAR initiative could lead to thousands of additional HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa.
Groups most affected include gay and bisexual men, female sex workers, and trans women.
Real-world data from Mozambique paints an equally dire picture. A study presented by Anna Grimsrud of the IAS revealed dramatic declines in treatment uptake and viral suppression following the US funding pause, with children particularly hard hit.
In Johannesburg, South Africa, Khensani Chauke of the Gauteng Health Department reported a 30% drop in new HIV treatments after USAID’s APACE programme was terminated—further illustrating the impact on health systems that were already stretched thin.
The funding crisis isn’t limited to Africa. In Latin America and the Caribbean, an average of 50% of the budgets of HIV-focused organisations have vanished almost overnight, with some losing their entire funding. “These are not just numbers,” said Meg Stevenson of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “These are lives—adults and children—left without prevention or care.”
Activist Zackie Achmat delivered a powerful call to action: “You can’t end the AIDS pandemic if African nations are forced to choose between paying creditors and saving lives. We need urgent debt restructuring to protect health services.”
As hundreds of studies continue to be unveiled at IAS 2025, one message echoes clearly through the conference halls: science alone cannot win this fight—sustained political will and financial investment are equally vital to save lives and end the HIV pandemic for good.
