WHO warns eight countries poised to run out of HIV medication

Bengaluru — The Trump administration’s decision to pause US foreign aid has “substantially disrupted” supply of HIV treatments in eight countries, which could soon run out of these life-saving medicines, the World Health Organisation said on Monday.

The global health agency said that Haiti, Kenya, Lesotho, South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Mali, Nigeria and Ukraine could exhaust their supply of HIV treatments in the coming months.

“The disruptions to HIV programmes could undo 20 years of progress,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference. He added that this could lead to more than 10-million additional HIV cases and 3-million HIV-related deaths.

Efforts to tackle HIV, polio, malaria and tuberculosis have been affected by the US foreign aid pause implemented by President Donald Trump shortly after he took office in January.

The WHO co-ordinated Global Measles and Rubella Laboratory Network, with more than 700 sites worldwide, also faces imminent shutdown, the agency said. This comes at a time when measles is making a comeback in the US.

The US has a “responsibility to ensure that if it withdraws direct funding for countries, it’s done in an orderly and humane way that allows them to find alternative sources of funding”, Ghebreyesus said on Monday.

Funding shortages could also force 80% of WHO-supported essential healthcare services in Afghanistan to close, the agency said in a separate statement.

As of March 4, 167 health facilities had shut down due to funding shortages, and without urgent intervention more than 220 more facilities could close by June.

The US’s plans to exit the WHO have also forced the UN agency, which typically receives about a fifth of its overall annual funding from the US, to freeze hiring and initiate budget cuts.

The WHO said on Monday that it plans to cut its funding target for emergency operations to $872m from $1.2bn in the 2026/27 budget period. 

Reuters