Minister refuses to say if UK HIV funding will be fully protected from aid cuts
Fears over UK HIV funding amid international aid cuts
- Jennifer Chapman, the UK Minister of State for International Development and Africa, has declined to confirm if funding for the global HIV response will be protected amidst significant cuts to international aid.
- The UK government is set to announce its aid allocations for the next three years, having already revealed a 40 per cent reduction in overall foreign aid to prioritise defence spending.
- A previously announced 15 per cent cut to the Global Fund, a key provider of HIV prevention and treatment, is estimated to potentially lead to 255,000 deaths.
- A coalition of charities, advocates, and MPs, led by The Independent's editor-in-chief, has urged Sir Keir Starmer to safeguard UK funding to avoid missing the opportunity to end the AIDS pandemic by 2030.
- Data modelling suggests that dismantling current funding programmes could result in millions of deaths, a resurgence of infections, and a significant increase in medication-resistant strains of HIV.