WHO urges US to maintain support for HIV treatment programmes

The World Health Organization on Tuesday urged the United States to reconsider its decision to suspend funding for HIV treatment programmes in developing countries, after President Donald Trump ordered a freeze on foreign aid.

"We call on the government of the United States of America to enable additional exemptions to ensure the delivery of lifesaving HIV treatment and care," the UN health body said on X, adding that it had "deep concern" over the funding pause.

Shortly after his inauguration, Trump signed an executive order directing the United States to withdraw from the WHO, a body he has repeatedly criticised over its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In response, the WHO said it was reviewing its priorities ahead of the withdrawal of the United States, its largest donor.

With regards to HIV, the agency said Tuesday that its programmes provided access to "life-saving HIV therapy to more than 30 million people worldwide".

It said the US funding cuts, "if prolonged, could lead to rises in new infections and deaths, reversing decades of progress and potentially taking the world back to the 1980s and 1990s when millions died of HIV every year globally, including many in the United States of America".