The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS has released a report on how the debt crisis is jeopardising progress aimed at ending AIDS in Sub-Saharan African countries.

According to UNAIDS, Sub-Saharan African countries account for a significant majority of people living with HIV globally, with 25.9 million people of the nearly 40 million total.

“If debt payments and stifled budgets are unaddressed in the next three to five years, countries will be under-resourced to fund their HIV responses,” said UNAIDS.

Further data reveals that “the region’s success in having reduced new HIV infections by 56 per cent since 2010 will not be sustained if fiscal space is constrained.”

Paying back sovereign debt now exceeds half of government revenue in Angola, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zambia.

UNAIDS said that even after debt relief measures, Zambia will still be handing over two-thirds of its budget for debt servicing between 2024 and 2026.

UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima said, “Public debt needs to be urgently reduced and domestic resource mobilisation strengthened to enable the fiscal space to fully fund the global HIV response and end AIDS.”

Ms Byanyima noted that global health security is put at risk when countries are unable to meet healthcare needs due to debt payments.

This has been evident in Western and Central Africa, as there has been a noticeable decline in HIV response spending since 2017.

A news release based on the report reveals that Western and Central Africa must mobilise $4.18 billion to fund the HIV response in 2024 fully.

“This will climb to $7.9 billion by 2030 unless efforts are scaled up today to stop new HIV infections,” the report stated.

It was noted that $20.8 billion was allocated for the HIV response in 2022 in low and middle-income countries through different donations, but it was not enough to effectively finance the HIV response.

To fully respond to HIV needs in 2024, Eastern and Southern Africa needs $12 billion, which will rise to $17 billion by 2030 unless new HIV infections decline.

The UNAIDS report says sub-Saharan African countries need to strengthen their tax systems and see an increase in financial donations to garner more domestic resources to effectively respond to their “pandemics.”

The UNAIDS said, “World leaders cannot let a resource crunch derail global progress to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.”

Meanwhile, the UNAIDS chief said that young people were playing an active role in driving the progress made in the HIV response.

UNAIDS has partnered with two social media influencers living with HIV from Kenya and South Africa to attend the Summit of the Future and the UN General Assembly meetings in New York to urge leaders to invest in health systems and services that will support young people living with HIV.

(NAN)