USA Secretary of State Marco Rubio has reinstated funding to hundreds of vital HIV prevention services around the globe.
Funding to the services was cut off last week when President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order stopping all foreign aid for 90 days. The decision stopped funding to the massive United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) scheme- the world’s leading HIV initiative. The move from President Trump threw programs around the globe into chaos.
Now Secretary of State Marco Rubio has issued an “Emergency Humanitarian Waiver’ that has restored funding after international condemnation of move that effected programs across 55 different countries, and 20 million people living with HIV.
The decision has been welcomed by leading health organisations including UN AIDS.
“UNAIDS welcomes this waiver from the US government which ensures that millions of people living with HIV can continue to receive life-saving HIV medication during the assessment of US foreign development assistance,” said UNAIDS Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima.
“This urgent decision recognises PEPFAR’s critical role in the AIDS response and restores hope to people living with HIV.”
The International AIDS Society also thanked Rubio for stepping in to restore the funding.
“Since its bipartisan creation, PEPFAR has always been synonymous with saving lives and this waiver restores – in some part – that legacy. However, PEPFAR’s continued and uninterrupted support of all HIV treatment and prevention services must be fully restored,” IAS President Beatriz Grinsztejn said.
“PEPFAR has been and should continue to be an active contributor to changing the trajectory of the HIV epidemic. It is our hope that this waiver remains in place and will be expanded to all HIV services.”
The decision from the Trump Administration to implement the funding pause without any consultation with service providers had also been criticised by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The US has announced they are pulling out of the global body and withdrawing funding from them as well.
They described the move from the US government as one that could have set the global fight against HIV back decades.
“A funding halt for HIV programmes can put people living with HIV at immediate increased risk of illness and death and undermine efforts to prevent transmission in communities and countries.
“Such measures, 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.” the WHO said in a statement earlier this week.
The WHO has also expressed hope that the Trump administration will reconsider their decision to leave the global health body.
“We hope the United States will reconsider and we look forward to engaging in constructive dialogue to maintain the partnership between the USA and WHO, for the benefit of the health and well-being of millions of people around the globe.” they said last week.
