‘Perilous moment’ threatens to reverse years of gains in HIV/AIDS response

"There's no question that this is the most serious disruption in the HIV response since the world came together to fight this disease," said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS.

Every week, 3,000 adolescent girls and young women in sub-Saharan Africa acquire HIV, one of the clearest signs the world is failing to reach some of the most vulnerable populations.

"The funding cuts, combined with the reduction in civic space and the further criminalisation of marginalised populations have come together to create the biggest storm the HIV response has ever seen," she said.

People are unable to access treatment and the virus continuing to spread, UNAIDS found.

Sharp drop in global assistance

Here are some key points from the Global AIDS brief - United to end AIDS:

• Global development assistance from multiple countries fell by 23 per cent in 2025, the sharpest drop on record
• HIV programmes have been hit hard, with testing programmes dropping by 22 per cent in high-burden settings between 2024 and 2025
• Funding for condoms has been cut by more than 90 per cent in some cases.
• In 2025, two additional countries introduced criminalisation related to same-sex sexual activity, and one country increased penalties for same-sex sexual activity in 2026
• PrEP (daily medicine to prevent HIV) uptake dropped sharply falling by 38 per cent between 2024 and 2025 in 62 countries reporting to UNAIDS.

Read the full report here.

Rights rolled back as prevention, care dismantled

The report also shows a dangerous rollback of rights, with criminalisation of marginalised populations increasing for the first time since UNAIDS began tracking these trends.

In addition, HIV prevention is being dismantled at the very moment the world needs to take it to scale, especially with new, revolutionary, long-acting prevention innovations coming to market.

Prevention was already underfunded at just 11 per cent of total HIV spending in 2024 and that limited investment is now shrinking further with no signs that domestic funding will fill the gap, according to the report.

Fragile success

The HIV response has been the most successful story in global health over the last 25 years:

• AIDS-related deaths have been reduced by 56 per cent from 1.3 million in 2010 to 570 000 in 2025
• New infections have been reduced by 43 per cent since 2010 to 1.2 million
• 78 per cent of the 40.9 million people living with HIV are now on treatment

But, this success is fragile.

Nearly nine million people are not on treatment.

At a time when external funding is reducing, treatment gains are also extremely tenuous.

Uneven progress amid funding cuts

A recent study of 79 community-led organizations across 47 countries and three continents (Asia Pacific, Latin America and Africa) showed:

• 50 per cent drop in community support services for people living with HIV
• 82 per cent reduction in services for sex workers
• Service reductions of 85 per cent for men who have sex with men.

When communities lose funding, the entire response loses reach, trust and effectiveness, according to UNAIDS, which also reported uneven progress alongside rising infections, including in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Middle East, North Africa and Latin America.

"We know how to end AIDS," said Ms. Byanyima.

"The question now is political: will we invest or will we retreat?"

'We can still end AIDS by 2030'

At the UN General Assembly's High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS on 22 and 23 June, countries will adopt a new political declaration with a view to ending AIDS in the next five years.

The new declaration will contain new 2030 targets from the Global AIDS Strategy.

Overarching targets include reaching 40 million people with antiretroviral treatment by 2030, ensuring 20 million people have access to medicine to prevent HIV and ensuring that all people receive services free of stigma and discrimination.

"If we follow the Global AIDS Strategy and UN Member States commit to adopting a strong political declaration to guide the response over the next five years, we can still end AIDS by 2030," the UNAIDS chief said.

"However, if we fail to act, we risk reversing decades of hard-fought progress."

Find out more about what UNAIDS does here.