Aid Cuts Slash HIV Prevention as UNAIDS Warns of New Epidemic Risk

—UNAIDS reported a sharp decline in HIV prevention efforts globally, driven by aid funding cuts primarily from the United States. The agency warned that a combination of reduced financing and increasingly repressive laws targeting LGBTQ+ people and sex workers could spark a new global HIV epidemic. Programs for testing, condoms, antiretrovirals, and harm reduction have been cut or suspended in dozens of countries. Sub-Saharan Africa, where the burden of HIV is heaviest, has been hardest hit by the funding withdrawal. UNAIDS called on wealthy nations and private donors to fill the gap before prevention infrastructure collapses.