The imminent closure of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/Aids (UNAids), a UN agency aimed at ending the HIV epidemic, would have a devastating effect on the lives of millions of people living with, and affected by, HIV/Aids in SA, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and human rights organisation Section 27 said on Thursday.
UNAids began operating in 1996. Since the first cases of HIV were reported more than 40 years ago, 88-million people have become infected and 42-million have died from Aids-related illnesses.
According to data released in 2024, an estimated 8-million South Africans live with HIV, with a prevalence rate of about 12.7% among adults.
The UN said it would “sunset” the programme by the end of 2026, the document published on Thursday read. It said UNAids’ expertise should be shifted into the wider UN system in the following year.
The move is expected to drastically affect SA, which has one of the largest infection populations in the world.
The two lobby groups said they “strongly” opposed the move. Dismantling the only dedicated UN body co-ordinating the HIV response would “undermine years of hard-fought gains in the HIV response” they said.
“The agency is already operating with reduced capacity as a result of massive cuts to country team staff. The announcement of closure comes after the decimation of global HIV funding in 2025, which has done unspeakable damage to the HIV response, putting millions of lives across the world at risk,” they said in joint statement.
“This despite there being 1.3-million new HIV infections in 2024, and 630,000 aids related deaths, according to the World Health Organisation.”
TAC general secretary Anele Yawa said: “The victories of our struggle against Aids have to be won again and again. We cannot take the recognition of the human rights of people for granted. Especially people using drugs, sex workers, and LGBTQ+ communities. The rise of the right across the globe only proves this.
“We also cannot take continued political will or funding from our governments for granted, as witnessed with the overnight pulling of funding from the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar), the reprioritisation of funding from the Global Fund, and many funders globally shifting priorities to other areas,” Yawa said.
“All this work from the first phase of the Aids response must continue, and we must continue to support each other in it.”
The UN is streamlining as it copes with the fallout from US foreign aid cuts under President Donald Trump, which have gutted humanitarian agencies.
UNAids said in a statement in response to the document that it already had a transition plan in place, which would see a 55% reduction in staff in the short term and a review in 2027 that would ultimately lead to its closure.
It said any accelerated timeline as outlined in the UN document, which was drafted by the secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, would have to be approved by UNAids board.
On January 20, Trump issued an executive order that suspended virtually all US foreign development assistance for 90 days pending a review. As a result, US-backed aid programmes were brought to a standstill across the world, including in SA.
The department of health received R753.5m from the Treasury to fill the gap left by the withdrawal of US funding for HIV/Aids programmes under the Pepfar.
The withdrawal of the Pepfar funding earlier this year had a significant effect on HIV/Aids programmes in SA resulting in the closure of clinics, NGOs, the retrenchment of thousands of healthcare workers and the suspension of community-based outreach programmes. Experts warned the funding cuts could lead to increased HIV infections.
Health minister Aaron Motsoaledi said in a presentation to parliament in February that Pepfar and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) had been expected to provide R6.27bn in the 2025/26 fiscal year, about 13% of the R48bn HIV/Aids funding anticipated for the period.
“This means we are going to have a total of R600m offered to researchers despite Pepfar having pulled the plug from their work,” Motsoaledi said.
“Closing UNAids now would undermine decades of progress, weakening global co-ordination of the HIV response at a critical stage of the HIV response, when the agency is expected to finalise the next five-year Global Aids Strategy and agree on the 2030 targets,” Section 27 executive director Sasha Stevenson said.
“UNAids has been essential in ensuring accountability, mobilising resources, protecting the rights of members of key populations, and centring community leadership in the global fight against Aids. Instead of ‘sunsetting’ UNAids, the world must strengthen and fully fund it to finish the fight against Aids.”
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