Program is responsible for providing antiretroviral therapies and assistance to 20.6 million people living with HIV/AIDS in 55 countries
Claudia Collucci – President Donald Trump’s decision to suspend for 90 days all foreign assistance reaches one of the largest worldwide programs aimed at preventing and treatment of AIDS, PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS relief), which has a budget annual of US $ 6.5 billion.
Created in the presidency of the Republican George W. Bush, in 2003, the program is responsible for providing antiretroviral therapies and assistance to 20.6 million people living with HIV/AIDS in 55 countries, especially those of sub -Saharan Africa.
The warning that the financing of almost all foreign assistance is frozen for three months is on a US Department of the United States, headed by Marco Rubio, sent to Embassies last Friday (24).
The suspension also affects USAID (United States for International Development Agency) programs. The only exempted exemptions were for emergency food and military financing for Israel and Egypt.
For Brazilian infectologist Beatriz Grinsztejn, who chairs IAS (International AIDS Society), the results of this interruption of PEPFAR resources can be catastrophic to control the world AIDS epidemic.
“Pepfar provides treatment that is Salvador de Lives. Of these more than 20 million people who depend on it, almost 600,000 are children, ”he says.
According to her, the suspension of financing includes current contracts, which may interrupt the treatment provision immediately. “This is an impact that I have no words to define, an absurd disorder. They are all desperate. ”
For Grinsztejn, the fear is that, without financing, the HIV epidemic has a peak again. “We have been having a very robust success in controlling the epidemic. Of course it is far from controlled, but we had, in 2024, the smallest number of new infections to date. ”
According to the doctor, it is estimated that around 26 million lives have been saved after the creation of Pepfar. “It has a very significant impact also on preventing new infections. It prevented, for example, 7.8 million babies were born with HIV. ”
The program also maintains AIDS virus testing services, which have served almost 100 million people, as well as assisting more than 17,000 orphans and vulnerable children affected by HIV.
“There is a terrible impact on pre-exposure prophylaxis [PREP] which has been significantly expanding in recent years. PEPFAR has a unique function in spreading these services in bringing these new technologies available. When you don’t finance Pepfar, this big turn we could have at the epidemic is on suspended. ”
Although the Trump government treats the suspension as temporary, Ginsztejn recalls that the ongoing epidemic does not give in a respite. “You can’t take a break or breath, because [a Aids] forest. We are talking about lives and countries that have no reserves, let alone plan B. ”
According to her, in addition to treatments, all health professionals involved in these care depend on these resources. According to PEPFAR data, there are more than 190,000 clinical and auxiliary care providers working full time every day, including 1,422 doctors, 13,577 nursing nurses, technicians and assistants and more than 108,000 community health agents. On average, these health agents earn just over $ 3,000 per year.
The hope, says Grinsztejn, is that international mobilization can protect the program. “It was instituted by the Republican government, has been through all this time through several changes of government, but there has never been such a devastating threat.”
For her, in addition to the immense impact on global health, the suspension of financing also brings damage to the United States. “There is a loss in the position of leadership in global health they have always had.”
On Saturday, Trump told reporters that he would like other countries to spend more on foreign aid. “We are like a one -way street, so we want other people to help us and we want other people to join us. We are spending billions and billions and billions of dollars and other rich countries are spending zero, ”he said. “Why should we be the only ones?”
In a public letter addressed to Rubio on Friday, deputies Gregory W. Meeks and Lois Frankel wrote: “United States external assistance programs promote stability in other countries to help prevent crises from spreading directly to our door. ”
“Foreign assistance is not a alms; It is a strategic investment in our future that is vital to global US leadership and a more resilient world, ”they added.
“It directly meets our national interests and demonstrates our credibility to allies, partners and vulnerable people who depend on American assistance to survive.”
