UNAIDS warning must spur global recommitment to HIV funding
The national federation for Australia’s leading HIV and LGBTIQA+ organisations has warned that global progress towards ending HIV transmission is at risk of being undone, following new UN estimates showing millions of deaths and new infections could occur by 2029 if critical funding is not restored.
Health Equity Matters, which has implemented community-led HIV programming in 22 countries in the Indo-Pacific region over the past 25 years, said the UNAIDS figures highlight how fragile decades of progress can be when funding is interrupted.
A new UNAIDS report warns that more than four million AIDS-related deaths and over six million additional HIV infections could occur globally by 2029, due to major funding withdrawals from key international donors, with the hardest-hit regions being those already grappling with high prevalence and limited resources.
“Any threat to HIV funding undermines the significant gains we’ve made over two and a half decades,” said Dash Heath-Paynter, CEO of Health Equity Matters.
“The Indo-Pacific has made real progress through sustained, community-led programs targeting key populations. That momentum is now at risk,” Dash Heath-Paynter said.
Since its inception, Health Equity Matters has supported close to $60 million worth of HIV programming across the Indo-Pacific, working in close partnership with community-led and key population-led organisations to build sustainable, locally owned responses to HIV.
“In our region, HIV epidemics are overwhelmingly concentrated among key populations, and they’ve been tackled effectively because programs have been led by those communities,” Dash Heath-Paynter said.
The UN report highlighted immediate impacts already unfolding including destabilised supply chains, the closure of clinics, disrupted testing, and reduced access to life-saving treatments, and highly effective prevention strategies such as PrEP.
Health Equity Matters is calling on the global community to renew its commitment to HIV funding and prioritise community-led, rights-based responses, especially in regions like the Indo-Pacific where epidemics remain active.
“Ending HIV is within reach. But walking away now would reverse hard-won gains, cost lives, and raise long-term health system costs.
“Communities have done the work. They have the infrastructure, the knowledge, and the trust. What they need is sustained, predictable investment to keep going,” Dash Heath-Paynter said.
Media contact: Kathleen Ferguson - 0421 522 080
