Governments Cut Global AIDS Response, Slashing PrEP 41% and HIV Tests by 4.7 Million
Updated
Updated · The Independent · Jun 12
Governments Cut Global AIDS Response, Slashing PrEP 41% and HIV Tests by 4.7 Million
3 articles · Updated · The Independent · Jun 12
Summary
A 41% drop in PrEP initiation under PEPFAR and 4.7 million fewer HIV tests in 2025 show how political decisions are weakening HIV prevention and care systems.
Governments are driving that rollback by criminalizing same-sex activity, restricting trans people and defunding LGBTQ+ civil society groups that deliver outreach, testing and treatment access.
UNAIDS said 2025 was the first year since monitoring began in 2008 that more countries criminalized same-sex activity and trans or gender-diverse expression, pushing high-risk groups further from care.
Men who have sex with men are 24 times more likely to acquire HIV than the general population, making lost trust, delayed diagnosis and reduced community-led services especially damaging.
The warning lands after a separate 2025 report showed a 23% drop in external HIV financing, raising the risk that governments will undo public-health models AIDS activists built over four decades.
With research defunded and new tools stalled, is the global goal of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 now impossible?
As foreign HIV aid falters, what innovative financing strategies can build truly sustainable national health systems?
America First, Global Health Last: The 2025 HIV Funding Collapse and Its Human Toll
Overview
In 2025, a dramatic funding crisis hit global health, especially HIV programs, after the Trump administration launched the America First Global Health Strategy. This policy shifted financial responsibility for PEPFAR from the US to recipient countries, creating a major funding gap. As a result, crucial HIV prevention programs were disrupted or dismantled, leaving vulnerable groups—especially adolescent girls and young women—at greater risk of infection. The loss of support triggered widespread concerns about the sustainability of essential health services and set the stage for a projected increase in the global health burden, reversing years of progress in HIV prevention and care.