WHO Warns of Shrinking HIV Funding as Service Disruptions Threaten Global Fight to End AIDS by 2030

The World Health Organization (WHO) has raised concerns over dwindling dedicated funding for HIV and AIDS, posing a threat to decades of progress in the fight against transmission, as HIV services are being disrupted.

This was contained in a statement to mark the 2025 Global commemoration of AIDS Day by WHO with partners and communities around the world, themed “Overcoming disruption, transforming the AIDS response”.

It noted that HIV has become a chronic treatable infection if appropriately managed, given a wide range of treatment options, but increased domestic funding and strengthened HIV services are urgently needed to reach the goal of ending AIDS by 2030.

However, HIV programmes continue to rely heavily on shrinking external funds, while domestic investments remain woefully inadequate; meanwhile, stigma, discrimination, punitive laws and the lack of community-based services continue to represent major obstacles to prevention, testing and care.

According to the statement, the WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, Dr. Hanan Balkhy, called on all governments to raise public awareness, increase domestic funding, integrate HIV into broader health services, adopt innovative approaches and strengthen prevention through digital health and Artificial Intelligence.

Out of an estimated 40.8 million people living with HIV around the world, 610, 000 live in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, where the number of annually estimated new infections has almost doubled in less than a decade, rising from 37 000 in 2016 to 72 000 in 2024.