The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday, January 28 expressed deep concern after the Trump administration in the U.S halted the funding of HIV programmes in low and middle-income countries.

The U.S government on Friday ordered a stop-work for all global health funding, including PEPFAR (U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief). The action had an immediate impact, with PEPFAR-supported clinics shutting down, until further notice.

The WHO is worried about the implications of the immediate funding pause, with the programme providing access to life-saving HIV therapy to more than 30 million people worldwide. Globally, WHO notes, 39.9 million people were living with HIV at the end of 2023.

“A funding halt for HIV programmes can put people living with HIV at immediate increased risk of illness and death and undermine efforts to prevent transmission in communities and countries,” WHO highlighted in a statement.

According to the health body, President Donald Trump’s decision, if prolonged, could lead to rises in new infections and deaths, reversing decades of progress and potentially taking the world back to the 1980s and 1990s when millions died of HIV every year globally, including many in the United States of America.

“We call on the United States Government to enable additional exemptions to ensure the delivery of lifesaving HIV treatment and care,” WHO implores.

PEPFAR’s legacy and current risks

PEPFAR has been a flagship initiative of the global HIV response since its establishment over 20 years ago.

WHO rues that the current funding pause for PEPFAR will have a direct impact on millions of lives that depend on the predictable supply of safe and effective antiretroviral treatment.

PEPFAR works in over 50 countries around the world. According to WHO, PEPFAR funding has saved more than 26 million lives over the past two decades.

PEPFAR has been providing HIV treatment for more than 20 million people living with HIV globally, including 566,000 children under 15 years of age.