A sixteen-year-old Nairobi woman, who contracted HIV at birth, takes her PEPFAR-supplied anti-retrovirals pills Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023. A U.S. foreign aid program that officials say has saved 25 million lives in Africa and elsewhere is being threatened. AP Photo/Brian Inganga
The Conversation: U.S. cuts to HIV/AIDS funding will be detrimental for vulnerable groups in Kenya
As written in The Conversation by Dr. Keith Fowke, Toby Le and Dr. Julie Lajoie, department of medical microbiology and infectious diseases, University of Manitoba:
On his first day in office, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to freeze foreign aid funding. This was followed by a stop-work order for dozens of life-saving humanitarian programs.
One of the programs affected by this announcement is the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). This program has invested more than US$100 billion in the global HIV/AIDS response since it was founded in 2003. This makes the U.S. the largest funder of HIV/AIDS programs worldwide.
If PEPFAR funding ends when the waiver expires — or resumes but doesn’t allow funding for services to all key populations — this will have severe impacts on those in the continent living with HIV or at high risk of infection.
Read the whole article here.
Research at the University of Manitoba is partially supported by funding from the Government of Canada Research Support Fund.