Distribution of US-backed HIV medications to poorest nations in flux after Trump order slowing foreign aid
Distribution of US-backed HIV medications to poorest nations in flux after Trump order slowing foreign aid
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The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief has provided life-saving treatment to tens of millions since it was established in 2003. During a 90-day foreign aid freeze, Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued exemptions for life-saving humanitarian assistance, but the fate of HIV treatment for the world’s poorest nations remains uncertain.
The waiver didn’t explicitly mention the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, a global health program that includes HIV treatment, testing and prevention drug distribution across the world, according to the New York Times. The distribution of HIV medications seemed to be permitted under the waiver, but whether preventative HIV drugs and other services are allowed is not immediately clear.
Gumisayi Bonzo, director of a health nonprofit in Zimbabwe, told the Associated Press that stripping access to HIV medication would be life-altering. “I have been religiously taking medicines for over two decades, I am living a normal life again, and suddenly we have to stop,” she said. “That’s a death sentence for many people.”.
Each day, the program supports more than 222,000 people receiving treatments, according to amfAR. The program also supports hundreds of thousands of HIV tests, newly diagnosing 4,374 people with HIV every day, including pregnant women. “If H.I.V. testing falls by the wayside, it’s unlikely that we will be able to even diagnose people who need to go into treatment,” Dr. Glenda Gray, a pediatric HIV expert at Wits University in South Africa, told the Times.
