NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 1 – As the world commemorates World AIDS Day today, UNAIDS is sounding the alarm over a historic setback in the global HIV response, urging nations to make radical shifts in HIV programming and financing or risk losing decades of progress.
This year’s theme, “Overcoming disruption, transforming the AIDS response,” reflects the escalating challenges confronting countries and communities amid shrinking donor support, worsening human-rights conditions, and severe disruptions to prevention and treatment services.
World AIDS Day 2025 is being observed at a moment of global uncertainty, with UNAIDS warning that the response to HIV has been “upended” and requires immediate, transformative action.
“Abrupt reductions in international HIV assistance in 2025 have deepened existing funding shortfalls,” UNAIDS said.
A new UNAIDS report released this week details how significant reductions in international funding have jeopardized essential HIV services across low- and middle-income countries.
According to OECD estimates, external health financing in 2025 has dropped by 30–40 per cent compared to 2023—one of the largest declines in modern public health history.
“The funding crisis has exposed the fragility of the progress we fought so hard to achieve,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima.
“Behind every data point are people—babies missed for early HIV diagnosis, young women cut off from prevention support, and communities suddenly left without services and care. We cannot abandon them.”
The report highlights the most significant setbacks in HIV prevention, including reduced access to PrEP, the medicine that prevents HIV; sharp declines in voluntary medical male circumcision programmes; and the dismantling of prevention initiatives for adolescent girls and young women, a group that continues to face disproportionately high infection rates.
In 2024 alone, 570 girls and young women aged 15–24 were infected with HIV every day.
Community-led organizations—often the only providers reaching key populations—have been forced to scale down or close.
Over 60 per cent of women-led HIV groups have suspended essential services, leaving men who have sex with men, sex workers, transgender people, and people who inject drugs with fewer safe access points for care.
UNAIDS warns that failure to meet the 2030 global HIV targets could result in 3.3 million additional infections between 2025 and 2030.
The funding crisis is unfolding amid a deteriorating rights landscape:
According to UNAIDS, In 2025, the number of countries criminalizing same-sex relations and gender expression increased for the first time since 2008.
Additionally, the organization stated that civil society restrictions have intensified, particularly in regions where key populations rely heavily on community-led outreach.
These developments, UNAIDS notes, are making it even harder to maintain HIV services for marginalized groups.
Despite the grim outlook, UNAIDS highlights examples of resilience and innovation. Several countries have quickly mobilized domestic resources and restructured service delivery, ensuring continuity in antiretroviral therapy initiations despite funding shocks.
But the agency warns that domestic budgets cannot shoulder the global HIV response alone.
“Countries must make radical shifts to HIV programming and funding,” UNAIDS said in a statement to mark World AIDS Day. “But the global HIV response cannot rely on domestic resources alone.”
UNAIDS is urging international partners to: bridge the widening funding gap;support restoration of HIV prevention and treatment services, remove punitive laws and social barriers and empower communities, especially women, girls, and LGBTQ+ people
“In a time of crisis, the world must choose transformation over retreat,” Ms. Byanyima said. “We can still end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030—if we act with urgency, unity, and unwavering commitment.”
To mark World AIDS Day, UNAIDS is co-hosting the WorldAIDSDay2025 event in Geneva with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Global Fund.
Leaders, health experts, and community representatives are convening to discuss the cascading impacts of donor cuts—and how countries can respond to this worsening crisis.
