MPs criticise ‘disappointing’ government cuts to global HIV fund
MPs warn the cuts could endanger progress against HIV prevention.
A group of politicians has criticised a cut in funding to prevent HIV by the UK government as “disappointing”.
The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on HIV and Aids commented on the reduction in funding on Monday (14 November) In 2021 the UK government committed £1.4 billion to The Global Fund, but this year has committed £1 billion.
Announcing the £1 billion funding for The Global Fund, the government confirmed the money would go to fighting tuberculosis and malaria as well as HIV and that the money is being spread over three years.
Despite finding the reduction disappointing, the APPG welcomed the funding “as it enables us to continue to #FightForWhatCounts to build more resilient and sustainable systems for health around the world.”
In a statement, Steven Brine MP, Florence Eshalomi MP, the Rt Hon David Mundell MP, and Baroness Barker relect on the success of The Global Fund in the fight against HIV, and the efforts to reduce the impact Covid-19 has had on HIV initiatives.
It also notes that Aids-related deaths have dropped by 70 percent between 2020 and 2021. The funding from the UK Government will go towards medicines, prevention schemes as well as being invested in “new innovations that will help enhance the effectiveness and impact the Global Fund has in the global fights against HIV and AIDS.”
It then points out that “Only the UK has cut its pledge to the Global Fund,” whereas France and other G7 countries’ funding has increased by between 20 and 30 percent.
“We are concerned that this cut from £1.4 billion risks jeopardising the UK’s own domestic efforts in ending HIV. As we’ve clearly learnt from COVID-19, pandemics don’t respect borders. If we can’t control HIV globally, it’ll jeopardise our domestic efforts,” the APPG warns.
Reacting to the news, the British HIV Association says “This is a threat to the progress that has been made to #EndHIVTransmission”.
The Minister for Development, Andrew Mitchell, says, “The UK and others founded the Global Fund because we refused to accept the loss of millions of lives every year to preventable and treatable diseases.”
He adds the UK: “These are wholly preventable deaths, and the UK is dedicated to preventing them.”
In October HIV campaigners celebrated early results from new testing regimes in A&E units across the UK
On World AIDS Day 2021, the Government announced its HIV Action Plan and £20 million in funding (from the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England) to expand opt-out testing over the course of three years.