The head of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) on Monday urged the United States to reconsider its decision to withdraw HIV/AIDS funding from South Africa, warning that the move could jeopardize life-saving services in the country with the world’s largest HIV-positive population.
UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima said she was saddened by Washington’s plans to phase out support under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), cautioning that the loss of funding could have severe consequences for vulnerable communities.
“Taking it away is taking away life-saving support from the most vulnerable people,” Byanyima told reporters at a United Nations briefing ahead of a high-level conference on HIV/AIDS. “I would ask the United States to reconsider their position.”
The appeal comes after the U.S. State Department confirmed it had decided to begin a phased withdrawal of PEPFAR support in South Africa, citing Pretoria’s failure to make progress on policy requests from the administration.
In an emailed statement, the department said South Africa, classified as a middle-income country, was capable of financing its own health programmes and noted that PEPFAR was never intended to be a permanent source of funding.
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According to reports, the decision follows tensions between Washington and Pretoria over issues including South Africa’s ties with Iran, Black Economic Empowerment policies and anti-apartheid chants that have drawn criticism from U.S. officials.
PEPFAR, launched in 2003, has been one of the world’s largest HIV/AIDS assistance programmes. Although South Africa funds its own antiretroviral medicines, the U.S. initiative has contributed more than $400 million annually and financed the salaries of about 15,000 healthcare workers.
Byanyima said South Africa is home to around eight million people living with HIV and that PEPFAR has accounted for as much as 17 percent of the country’s HIV response funding.
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She also warned that broader reductions in international development assistance by traditional donors in Europe and North America threatened to undermine decades of progress in the global fight against AIDS.
“Please do not take money away because you are taking lives away. Have a planned transition,” she said.
The UNAIDS chief noted that the international community remains committed to ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. She said significant advances had been achieved, with 32.1 million of the roughly 40 million people living with HIV worldwide now receiving treatment.
However, she cautioned that progress remained fragile. UNAIDS estimates that around nine million people still lack access to treatment, while 1.2 million new HIV infections were recorded globally last year.
Byanyima said recent aid reductions were already disrupting HIV services, citing a 22 percent decline in HIV testing in countries with high infection rates and a 90 percent drop in condom distribution in some nations.
“We are seeing early signs of serious reversals in our progress,” she said, warning that declining infection rates could begin rising again if funding shortfalls persist.
