I fear a new HIV and AIDS epidemic is coming – and the world won’t care, UN official warns

A UN official has spoken of her fear that aid cuts from the US, UK and other nations could push the world into a new HIV/AIDS epidemic – and that people will not care.

Speaking at a screening for Independent TV's powerful new documentary Hunted: Kidnapped, blackmailed and tortured for being LGBTQ+ at ICA London, Christine Stegling, director of management and partnerships at UNAIDS which leads the global effort to end AIDS, said that is the danger of the current political climate, where cuts to services are becoming normalised and capacity to test and treat is being hit.

"In the 1990s, the 2000s, when we were all demonstrating to have access to [HIV] treatment, when we said this is a disaster, people are dying, people cared, we got people to care, we called for all of this," Ms Stegling said. "My greatest fear that we will not have that moment again, where we get the international attention to get people to really care and to invest into where it matters."

She added: "I think [an epidemic] is coming... What we're seeing in our data is people have lost access to services, but also people particularly have lost access to testing.

"So we're getting into a new era where people are not aware of the HIV status, won't go for help, or will come late. The simple fact that you don't even know your own HIV status is going to be devastating."

The UN’s secretary general, Antonio Guterres, warned last month month that the world is far from achieving the 2025 targets for the global HIV/AIDS response. “At the end of 2024, 9.2 million people could not access HIV treatment; there were 630,000 AIDS-related deaths (double the 2025 target); and 1.3 million people acquired HIV (3.5 times the 2025 target),” Mr Guterres said.

Reported by The Independent's award-winning chief international correspondent, Bel Trew, the film documents the world of attacks in Nigeria, where members of the LGBTQ+ community are entrapped, humiliated and extorted by gangs in a rising surge in violence and hatred. They are abducted, beaten and tortured for money on camera, with the footage then shared online, destroying lives.

Now, as aid cuts start to bite, the survivors of these attacks who are also living with HIV must contend with the collapse of the very clinics and shelters that once helped them. Bel travelled to Nigeria to speak to those who are fighting for their lives.

In the documentary, Yemi Ogunwa, a human rights activist said they believe attacks will get worse and that gay people across Nigeria have been “beaten and maimed” in recent months. Charles Ssonko, the chronic and infectious diseases team lead at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) UK, also said in the documentary: “We’re actually seeing ourselves going back to those moments two decades ago when people were actually dying without hope... This is the moment that we shouldn’t turn back.”

Speaking at the same panel event as Ms Stegling following the ICA London screening, Mr Ssonko said that when he was working in Uganda in the late 1990s and early 2000s "there [was] no family that was not affected in Uganda" but that thanks to treatment and programmes to help "people have forgotten".

Another panellist was Reverend Jide Macaulay, founder and CEO of House Of Rainbow – an advocacy group for Black, African, Caribbean, and other ethnic minority LGBTQ+ individuals. Reverend Macaulay is also an expert advisor for the UNAIDS Reference Group on HIV and Human Rights and is chairperson for INERELA+ Europe, the European network of religious leaders living with or personally affected by HIV.

He called the documentary – and the threats to marginalised communities it represents – “heartbreaking”.

Last year, Donald Trump slashed aid funding from the US, essentially shuttering the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), taking billions of dollars away from projects around the world.

In the UK, while funding for certain core areas has been protected – including to Ukraine, Gaza, and Sudan – funding for HIV has not been classified as such. Going forward, UK aid spend on HIV/AIDs prevention and treatment is set to be largely channelled through funding for the Global Fund – which last December the UK confirmed would be cut by £150m – and bilateral aid programmes to developing countries in Africa and beyond, which are also being significantly cut.

There will be a 56 per cent decline in UK support to Africa between 2026-27 and 2028-29, with cuts hitting countries across the continent.

Bel Trew said of this screening, and a special preview last month: “Members of the LGBTQ+ community are in hiding right now, survivors of torture and humiliation. Some have been hounded to their deaths as discriminatory attacks have surged. Those living with HIV are now facing the loss of their life-sustaining medication and prevention therapy amid unprecedented aid cuts.

“Those who have spoken to me for this film are beyond brave, given the fear we would all feel in such a situation. The world cannot turn its back on the most vulnerable at a critical moment.”

This documentary has been produced as part of The Independent’s Rethinking Global Aid project