By Kolawole Ojebisi
As parts of efforts to end the financial dependence of many international organisations on the United States, the country has terminated its agreement with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS.
The programme is an innovative joint venture of the United Nations family which leads the global effort to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals.
UNAIDS shared this update on its website on Friday. Recall that on January 20, 2025, the President of the United States of America issued an Executive Order called “Reevaluating and Realigning U.S. Foreign AID” which ordered a 90-day freeze of all foreign aid pending a review of assistance efforts to ensure alignment with current U.S. foreign policy.
UNAIDS stated that it complied with the Executive Order and suspended contracts and activities under those awards as a recipient of U.S. foreign assistance.
It, however, said on February 27, 2025, it received a letter from the U.S. Government/USAID “stating they are terminating their agreement with UNAIDS with immediate effect.”
“This is a serious development, which impacts the entire HIV response including in the continuity of life-saving HIV services for people living with and affected by HIV, civil society and our partners.”UNAIDS quoted the US government
In the letter, the U.S. Government/USAID added, “detailed instructions will follow.” UNAIDS noted that it has reached out formally to the U.S. Government for more information.”
As of February 17, 2025, UNAIDS received reports from 52 countries experiencing disruptions in their HIV responses due to the U.S. foreign aid pause.
The report revealed alarming impacts, including disruptions in HIV testing, treatment, and prevention services, with community organisations, and healthcare workers affected.
The report indicated that Nigeria is one of the 20 countries most reliant on U.S. funding for HIV medicines, as Nigeria gets 47 per cent of resources from direct U.S. funding and 94 per of resources from donor funding.
In early February, the Federal Executive Council approved a total of $1.07bn in financing for healthcare sector reforms under the Human Capital Opportunities for Prosperity and Equity programme, as well as an N4.8bn allocation for HIV treatment.
Nigeria has an HIV prevalence rate of 1.4 per cent among the general population aged 15–64 years, with an estimated two million people living with HIV. About 1.6 million of them are currently on treatment, according to the National Agency for the Control of AIDS.
The World Health Organisation had in January expressed deep concern about the implications of the immediate funding pause for HIV programmes in low- and middle-income countries, as these programmes provide access to life-saving HIV therapy to more than 30 million people worldwide.
Globally, 39.9 million people were living with HIV at the end of 2023.
The global health body noted that a funding halt for HIV programmes can put people living with HIV at an immediately increased risk of illness and death and undermine efforts to prevent transmission in communities and countries.
It said, 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.
