I fear a new HIV and AIDS epidemic is coming – and the world won’t care, UN official warns
A UN official said he feared aid cuts from the US, UK and other countries could plunge the world into a new HIV/AIDS epidemic and people would not care.
Speech at the screening of Independent TV’s powerful new documentary Hunted: Kidnapped, blackmailed and tortured LGBTQ+ At ICA London, Christine Stegling, director of governance and partnerships at UNAIDS, which is leading global efforts to end AIDS, said this was the danger posed by the current political climate, where service cuts have become the norm and testing and treatment capacity has been hit.
“In the 1990s, 2000s, we were all performing to get access [HIV] “When we say the cure is a disaster, people are dying, people are caring, we’ve got people caring, we’ve called for all of that,” Ms. Stegling said. “My biggest fear is that we may never have that moment again where we attract international attention to get people to actually care and invest in the places that matter.”
He added: “I think [an epidemic] coming… We see in our data that people have lost access to services, but they’ve also lost access to testing in particular.
“So we are entering a new era where people are unaware of their HIV status, do not seek help, or come late. Not even knowing your own HIV status will be devastating.”
UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres warned last month that the world is far from meeting the 2025 targets for the global fight against HIV/AIDS. “By the end of 2024, 9.2 million people did not have access to HIV treatment; there were 630,000 AIDS-related deaths (twice the 2025 target) and 1.3 million people contracted HIV (3.5 times the 2025 target),” Mr. Guterres said.
Reported by: IndependentDirected by Bel Trew, ‘s award-winning chief international correspondent, the film documents the world of assault in Nigeria, where members of the LGBTQ+ community are trapped, humiliated and extorted by gangs amid rising violence and hatred. They are kidnapped, beaten and tortured for money on camera; The images are then shared online and lives are destroyed.
Now, as aid cuts begin to bite, survivors of these attacks who are also living with HIV are having to deal with the collapse of clinics and shelters that once helped them. Bel traveled to Nigeria to speak to those fighting for their lives.
In the documentary, human rights activist Yemi Ogunwa said they believed the attacks would get worse and that homosexuals in Nigeria had been “beaten and mutilated” in recent months. Charles Ssonko, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) UK’s chronic and infectious diseases team leader, also said in the documentary: “We are actually seeing a return to those moments twenty years ago when people were desperately dying… This is a moment we should not go back to.”
Speaking at the same panel event as Ms Stegling after the ICA London screening, Mr Ssonko said “there” he was working in Uganda in the late 1990s and early 2000s. [was] “There is no family in Uganda that is not affected,” but thanks to treatment and assistance programs, “people have forgotten about it.”
Another panelist was its founder and CEO, Rev. Jide Macaulay. Rainbow House – An advocacy group for Black, African, Caribbean and other ethnic minority LGBTQ+ individuals. Rev. Macaulay is also an expert advisor to the UNAIDS HIV and Human Rights Reference Group and president of INERELA+ Europe, the European network of religious leaders living with or personally affected by HIV.
He called the documentary and the threats to marginalized communities it represents “heartbreaking.”
Last year, Donald Trump cut off aid funding from the United States, essentially shutting down the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and taking away billions of dollars from projects around the world.
In the UK, funding for certain key areas is protected, including Ukraine, Gaza and Sudan, while funding for HIV is not classified as such. Going forward, the UK’s aid spending on the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDs will be largely directed through funding to the Global Fund, to which last December the UK confirmed it would cut £150 million, and to bilateral aid programs for developing countries in Africa and beyond, which have also been cut significantly.
There will be a 56 per cent drop in UK support to Africa between 2026-27 and 2028-29, with cuts affecting countries across the continent.
Bel Trew said of this screening and last month’s exclusive preview: “Members of the LGBTQ+ community, survivors of torture and humiliation, are now in hiding. Some are being driven to their deaths as discriminatory attacks escalate. Those living with HIV now face losing their life-sustaining medications and preventive treatments due to unprecedented benefit cuts.”
“Those who spoke to me for this film are very brave, given the fear we would all feel in such a situation. The world cannot turn its back on the most vulnerable at a critical moment.”
This documentary was produced as part of The Independent. Rethinking Global Aid project
