Scale-backs and deep spending cuts within the US government and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS are hobbling HIV treatment programs across Africa, including in Ethiopia, warns a new report from a UN health agency.
“Before the funding cuts in 2025, Ethiopia was heavily dependent on external funding (mainly from the Global Fund and the United States government) for HIV programmes. Ethiopia’s domestic budget for HIV represented only four percent of total HIV funding,” reads the UNAIDS report.
Available data puts the number of Ethiopians currently accessing antiretroviral treatment at over half a million.
The UN agency estimates a drop of up to 40 percent in external health aid in 2025, cautioning that the lack of funding will continue to cause serious disruptions to health services, including HIV prevention, for the most vulnerable people and community systems in Africa.
More than 26 million people were living with HIV in Africa in 2024, including 1.2 million children under the age of 14, according to UNAIDS. The continent saw at least 390,000 AIDS-related deaths that year, according to the report.
UNAIDS, which played a key role in developing the Global AIDS Strategy 2026-2031, projects that annual resource needs will be USD 12.5 billion by the end of the decade. The strategy will serve as the foundation for the 2026 Political Declaration on AIDS, to be endorsed by United Nations Member States in June 2026, according to the report.
The agency calls on governments and partners to scale up HIV response and treatment programs to reach the 2030 targets, warning that the world could see up to 3.3 million new HIV infections over the coming four years if treatment and prevention services are maintained at 2024 coverage levels.
