UN: HIV epidemic threatens the world

The world is facing an HIV epidemic in the event of a further reduction in funding for infection control programs, according to a new report by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV./AIDS (UNAIDS).

"The volume of international funding for HIV interventions coming from various countries has decreased by more than $1.5 billion — from $8.8 billion in 2024 to $7.3 billion in 2025," the report says.

It is noted that this is a decrease of 18% and the lowest figure in almost two decades.

"The reduction of international funding, as well as cuts in funds for HIV prevention and community outreach, are likely to lead to a new outbreak of the epidemic. In 2025, another 1.2 million people became infected with HIV, and 570,000 died from AIDS—related diseases," the report says.

According to UNAIDS, if urgent measures are not taken to meet the targets set for 2030, by that time the number of people infected with HIV could exceed 3 million people. The UN pointed out that the volume of development assistance in the world has declined sharply, in 2025 it has decreased by 23%, and programs in the field of global health and HIV control, which accounted for a significant share of these funds, have been particularly hard hit.

Thus, the dependence of many African countries on these funds exceeded 90%. In 2025, the number of new HIV infections increased in three regions and 21 countries, including the region of Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

In 2025, about 9 million of the 41 million people living with HIV did not receive treatment, and almost half of all children living with HIV did not have access to antiretroviral therapy.