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Lobby warns of HIV gains reversal as funds shrinks
The Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+) reported that the USAid contracts terminations has reduced monthly funding for HIV initiatives from Sh73.5 billion ($567 million) to just Sh3.6 billion ($28 million) by early 2025.
People living with HIV around the world - including over 1.37 million in Kenya are facing a Sh374.9 billion ($2.89 billion) funding shortfall following the cancellation of key contracts from the US President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief and the United States Agency for International Development (USAid), a lobby has warned.
The Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+) reported that this crisis has reduced monthly funding for HIV initiatives from Sh73.5 billion ($567 million) to just Sh3.6 billion ($28 million) by early 2025.
The funding shortfall has led to the closure of critical services, the dismantling of community health systems, and the reversal of decades of advocacy and progress in prevention and treatment.
"By taking into account the needs and realities of people living with HIV, we have been able to adapt our service delivery, saving many lives and resources. However, we are at a critical juncture in the HIV response, with significant turbulence in the global health landscape. Sustainable roadmaps are our anchor point and we need to integrate HIV services into primary health care," said Jolijn van Haaren of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In Kenya, President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief-supported clinics are closing or drastically reducing operations. Community health workers have been laid off, outreach programmes have been frozen, and prevention efforts have been severely curtailed, especially in rural areas and among key populations.
With only months of programme support remaining, Kenya's National Syndemic Diseases Control Council has warned that new HIV infections could rise from 16,752 to over 58,000 per year if these funding gaps are not urgently addressed.
The country urgently needs Sh5.24 billion to maintain services until June and an additional Sh13.5 billion for the 2025/2026 financial year as it seeks to transition to domestic funding.
In 2023, nine million people living with HIV did not receive life-saving treatment and 630,000 died from AIDS, underscoring the urgent need for an effective, coordinated response.
At the 2025 PLHIV Leadership Summit, convened by GNP+ and bringing together more than 30 PLHIV network leaders from around the world, leaders highlighted systemic issues, including the lack of meaningful engagement with PLHIV in shaping national sustainability roadmaps, fragmented health systems that fail to integrate HIV into primary care, and a growing disconnect between donor strategies and real-world needs.
"Governments and country stakeholders have the authority and existing systems that serve as a gateway to sustainability. The HIV response needs to be redesigned for delivery within government multi-sectoral national systems, with strategic investments in data, supply chains, laboratory services and community health to protect the HIV response," said Dr Nduku Kilonzo of Yemaya Health Advisory.
"The lives of over 40 million people living with HIV worldwide are more than just statistics. GNP+ underscores the need for a collective effort to reimagine strategies for sustained access to treatment, ensuring that people not only survive, but thrive. The message 'Undetectable = Untransmittable' highlights the importance of achieving viral suppression for both individual health and prevention," added Florence Anam, co-director of GNP+.
