Health
Byanyima raises alarm over falling HIV funding and testing rates
Byanyima warned that these innovations risk remaining out of reach for millions due to persistent structural, financial and institutional barriers.
UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima. (File photo)
By: John Masaba, Journalist @New Vision
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UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima has cautioned that scientific breakthroughs in the fight against HIV/AIDS will amount to little if they are not equitably accessed by the populations most in need.
Byanyima said unequal access to new medical innovations risks deepening inequality, undermining human rights, and stalling progress made over decades in the global HIV response.
She was Tuesday speaking at a high-level United Nations meeting in New York attended by global leaders, diplomats and health advocates.
Global data shows significant gains in the fight against HIV/AIDS. AIDS-related deaths have declined by 56 per cent while new infections have dropped by 43 per cent since 2010. At the same time, a shift in financing has seen domestic resources now accounting for about 52 per cent of global HIV funding.
Scientific advances are also reshaping treatment and prevention, with a move away from daily oral antiretroviral pills toward long-acting injectables, antibody-based therapies, and promising vaccine candidates in the pipeline.
However, Byanyima warned that these innovations risk remaining out of reach for millions due to persistent structural, financial and institutional barriers.
“Innovations without access are not innovations; they are an injustice,” she said, cautioning that failure to ensure equitable access to new technologies could fuel backlash against human rights and slow down gains in gender equality.
Rising funding pressures
Byanyima pointed to growing reliance on external donors as a major vulnerability in the global HIV response. In Uganda, for instance, more than 75 per cent of HIV programming is funded by international partners such as PEPFAR and the Global Fund.
Scientific advances are also reshaping treatment and prevention, with a move away from daily oral antiretroviral pills toward long-acting injectables, antibody-based therapies, and promising vaccine candidates in the pipeline.
However, Byanyima warned that these innovations risk remaining out of reach for millions due to persistent structural, financial and institutional barriers.
“Innovations without access are not innovations; they are an injustice,” she said, cautioning that failure to ensure equitable access to new technologies could fuel backlash against human rights and slow down gains in gender equality.
Rising funding pressures
Byanyima pointed to growing reliance on external donors as a major vulnerability in the global HIV response. In Uganda, for instance, more than 75 per cent of HIV programming is funded by international partners such as PEPFAR and the Global Fund.
She also cited Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) data showing that global development financing for HIV declined by 23 per cent in 2025, the sharpest drop recorded in recent years. The cuts, she said, have already led to significant disruptions in service delivery, particularly in high-burden and low-income countries.
The impact has been felt across prevention and testing programmes, with HIV testing falling by 22 per cent between 2024 and 2025, reducing early diagnosis and increasing the risk of undetected transmission. Funding for prevention tools, including condoms, has also been cut by more than 90 per cent in some settings.
“Prevention is being dismantled at the very moment we should be scaling innovations like long-acting medicines,” Byanyima said.
The UNAIDS chief also expressed concern over what she described as shrinking civic space for community-led organisations, warning that it threatens hard-won gains in the HIV response.
“The closing of civic space, disabling communities from serving their people, is a big threat to the gains we have made today,” she said.
Byanyima urged UN member states to take urgent steps to protect and accelerate progress toward ending AIDS.
She called for the protection of human rights to ensure people living with HIV can access care free from stigma and discrimination, the sustaining of international financing while encouraging gradual increases in domestic health funding, the empowerment of communities through support for community-led health responses and local organisations, and the democratisation of science to ensure new HIV technologies are affordable and accessible globally.
Cautious optimism
Despite the challenges, Byanyima pointed to encouraging signs, noting that 52 countries had increased domestic financing for HIV programmes in the past year.
She said sustaining this momentum, alongside stronger community engagement and fair access to scientific advances, remains critical to ending the epidemic.
“Research could yet give us a cure. Ending AIDS is possible,” she said. “But we meet at a perilous moment. Multilateralism is at its weakest in a generation, while threats are poised to reverse our gains. If we do these things, we can end AIDS.”
The impact has been felt across prevention and testing programmes, with HIV testing falling by 22 per cent between 2024 and 2025, reducing early diagnosis and increasing the risk of undetected transmission. Funding for prevention tools, including condoms, has also been cut by more than 90 per cent in some settings.
“Prevention is being dismantled at the very moment we should be scaling innovations like long-acting medicines,” Byanyima said.
The UNAIDS chief also expressed concern over what she described as shrinking civic space for community-led organisations, warning that it threatens hard-won gains in the HIV response.
“The closing of civic space, disabling communities from serving their people, is a big threat to the gains we have made today,” she said.
Byanyima urged UN member states to take urgent steps to protect and accelerate progress toward ending AIDS.
She called for the protection of human rights to ensure people living with HIV can access care free from stigma and discrimination, the sustaining of international financing while encouraging gradual increases in domestic health funding, the empowerment of communities through support for community-led health responses and local organisations, and the democratisation of science to ensure new HIV technologies are affordable and accessible globally.
Cautious optimism
Despite the challenges, Byanyima pointed to encouraging signs, noting that 52 countries had increased domestic financing for HIV programmes in the past year.
She said sustaining this momentum, alongside stronger community engagement and fair access to scientific advances, remains critical to ending the epidemic.
“Research could yet give us a cure. Ending AIDS is possible,” she said. “But we meet at a perilous moment. Multilateralism is at its weakest in a generation, while threats are poised to reverse our gains. If we do these things, we can end AIDS.”