HIV networks meet to rethink response after funding cuts

Group Director at Yemaya Health, Dr.Nduku Kilonzo addresses delegates of Global Network of People Living with HIV during a leadership Summit held in Nairobi on April 10,2025. [Benard Orwongo,Standard] Over 30 network leaders of People Living with HIV (PLHIV) from 18 countries are congregating in Nairobi to brainstorm a new strategy for HIV response following the recent US foreign funding shift. Congregating under the Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+), the leaders are seeking to build consensus on key priorities for people living with HIV. This, according to the GNP+ Co Director, Florence Anam, is aimed at informing countries and other global stakeholders in the HIV response in this time of adapting and redefining their work within the HIV response. She noted that this is particularly key during the development of the national HIV response sustainability roadmaps, the Global AIDS strategy, and the 2026 HIV political declaration. "The lives of over 40 million people living with HIV worldwide extend beyond mere statistics. GNP+ emphasizes the need for a unified effort to reimagine strategies for sustained access to treatment, ensuring people not only survive but thrive," she said. The "Undetectable = Untransmittable" message, she pointed out, underscores the importance of achieving viral suppression for both individual health and prevention. Curtains on the PLHIV Leadership Summit 2025 is advocating for the world to strengthen local for global advocacy towards secured access to treatment and quality of life for all people living with and impacted by HIV. "The PLHIV network, therefore, came together in solidarity to rebuild the HIV movement in response to the shifting global priorities that has cut funding to the sector at a time when progress had also stagnated," Anam said. In 2023, an estimated 9 million people living with HIV did not access life-saving treatment, and 630,000 people died from AIDS, highlighting the stark reality that the global response is off-track. The cancellation of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and USAID contracts has impacted $2.88bn in specific funding, triggering $567 million in monthly HIV funding cuts (dropping to $28 million in early 2025). "This has dismantled community health systems, human resource shortages, halting of services in Pepfar funded clinics reversing decades of progress," she added. Jolijn van Haaren from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted through the virtual platform of the Summit that taking into account the needs and realities of PLWH facilitated the adjustment of service delivery. "This saved the country a lot of lives... and money. With good results: In 2023, the Netherlands counted only 424 new infections and 25 AIDS related deaths. "However, we are at a huge turning point of the HIV response, with a lot of chaos in the global health landscape. The sustainable roadmaps are our anchor point. We need to integrate HIV in primary health care," she emphasised. The network leadership is determined not to panic and reverse the gains but to strengthen the capacity of PLHIV networks to collaborate with their governments as they adapt changes to their national HIV programs. This will include steps to mobilize domestic resources, integrate HIV services into primary healthcare, and safeguard prevention and community health system programs from neglect or political shifts to ensure that HIV sustainability roadmaps are clear. In a presentation, Dr. Nduku Kilonzo, Group Director at Yemaya Health, said governments and country stakeholders have agency and country systems, mechanisms that are the gateway to sustainability. "The HIV response must be redesigned for delivery within Government multi-sector national systems and mechanisms- with strategic investments in national systems- data, supply chains, laboratory and community health to safeguard the HIV response," she said. With the 2030 goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat nearing, the urgency to address the persistent gaps in the HIV response is critical now more than ever. Recognizing the need for long-term solutions, UNAIDS and PEPFAR have initiated the HIV Sustainability framework, aligned with national plans and government leadership. Simultaneously, the upcoming development of the Global AIDS Strategy 2026-2031 and the 2026 UN High-Level Meeting on HIV and AIDS present crucial opportunities for PLHIV engagement and advocacy. The Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+) is dedicated to ensuring a world where all people living with HIV have access to a healthy, dignified life, free from stigma and discrimination. GNP+ is actively engaging with national PLHIV networks and other key stakeholders, including government agencies, WHO and UNAIDS, to ensure that the voices of PLHIV are central to these processes.

HIV networks meet to rethink response after funding cuts

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