“There is There is no doubt that this is the most serious disruption in the HIV response since the world came together to fight the disease.said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS.
Every week, 3,000 adolescent girls and young women in sub-Saharan Africa contract HIV, one of the clearest signs of the world’s failure to reach some of the most vulnerable populations.
“Budget cuts, combined with shrinking civic space and increased criminalization of marginalized populations, have combined to create the the biggest storm the HIV response has ever faced“, she said.
People do not have access to treatment and the virus continues to spread, UNAIDS has found.
Sharp drop in global aid
Here are some key points of Global AIDS Briefing Note – Unite to End AIDS:
- Global development aid from multiple countries fell 23 percent in 2025, the largest decline ever recorded
- HIV programs have been hit hard, with testing programs drop 22 percent in high-burden contexts between 2024 and 2025
- Funding for condoms has been reduced by more than 90 percent in some cases.
- In 2025, two additional countries introduced criminalization related to same-sex sexual activity, and one country increased penalties for same-sex sexual activity in 2026.
- PrEP (daily medication to prevent HIV) adoption has fallen sharply decreasing by 38 percent between 2024 and 2025 in 62 countries reporting to UNAIDS.
Read the full report here.
Rights rolled back while prevention and care are dismantled
The report also shows a dangerous rollback of rights, with criminalization of marginalized populations increasing for the first time since UNAIDS began tracking these trends.
Furthermore, HIV prevention is being dismantled just when the world needs to make it mainstream, especially with revolutionary new innovations in long-term prevention coming to market.
Prevention was already underfunded, at just 11 percent of total HIV spending in 2024 and limited investment declines further with no sign that domestic financing will fill the gap, the report said.
A fragile success
The HIV response is the most successful global health story of the past 25 years:
- AIDS-related deaths were reduced by 56 percent from 1.3 million in 2010 to 570,000 in 2025
- New infections reduced by 43 percent since 2010 at 1.2 million
- 78 percent of the 40.9 million people living with HIV are now on treatment
But this success is fragile.
Nearly nine million people are not receiving treatment.
At a time when external funding is declining, treatment gains are also extremely precarious.
Uneven progress amid budget cuts
A recent study of 79 community organizations in 47 countries and three continents (Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Africa) showed:
- 50 percent drop in community support services for people living with HIV
- 82 percent reduction in services for sex workers
- Service reductions of 85 percent for men who have sex with men.
When communities lose funding, the overall response loses scope, confidence and effectiveness, according to UNAIDS, which has also reported uneven progress alongside rising infections, notably in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and Latin America.
“We know how to end AIDS,” Ms. Byanyima said.
“The question now is political: will we invest or will we go backwards??”
“We can still end AIDS by 2030”
At the UN General Assembly high-level meeting on HIV/AIDS on June 22-23, countries will adopt a new political declaration to end AIDS within the next five years.
The new declaration will contain new targets for 2030 from the Global AIDS Strategy.
The overall goals include providing antiretroviral treatment to 40 million people by 2030, ensuring that 20 million people have access to medicines to prevent HIV, and ensuring that all receive services free from stigma and discrimination.
“If we follow the Global AIDS Strategy and UN Member States commit to 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 don’t act, we risk reversing decades of hard-won progress.”
