Freezing American aid threatens to combat “AIDS” in Africa

Molly, 39, appears to be vibrant and energy, so no one can notice that she has HIV HIV, which causes AIDS, but after the US government’s decision to freeze aid funds for 90 days, this single -children mother has become very concerned.

“When I heard that, I cried and said: May God be our help,” says Molly. “I am still crying, because I thought I would live longer, now I am no longer sure of that.”

Molly HIV was diagnosed eight years ago. Since then, it has been receiving treatment with antivirals (ARV), which helps to control the virus and maintain the stability of its health condition. So far, symptoms of the disease have not appeared.

Molly, herself and her two children by selling fried bananas in the streets of her village in Uganda, and this work is sufficient to provide a modest life, but it is not enough to buy medicines in particular if aid stops.

The US President’s administration’s decision, Donald Trump, to stop this aid, is facing legal criticism in the United States. It is still unclear whether this money will be reduced in the long run or will be completely canceled.

In Uganda alone, there are hundreds of thousands of HIV.

The disease is especially widespread in southern and eastern Africa. However, while HIV in the 1990s was a death sentence, today patients in many African countries are now able to coexist with the disease thanks to receiving treatment with anti -virus.

But fear and despair agrees now. In statements to the German News Agency (DPA), Nelson Mourabi, Director of the Ugandan AIDS Commission, said: “There is a state of fear and panic, whether between officials or among patients. There is concern about the depletion of drug therapy drugs, that is, a break in treatment that can lead to serious problems.

Mouraba is also afraid that the stopping of US aid will threaten the success story achieved by East Africa in the fight against HIV and AIDS. In the 1990s, the incidence rate in Uganda was 30%, but thanks to an ambitious program, it now decreased to only 5%. While 53,000 people died in Uganda due to AIDS disease and its complications in 2010, the number of these deaths decreased in 2023 to only 20 thousand cases, and nearly 1.5 million people carrying the virus live in Uganda, including about 1.3 million people receiving treatment with anti -virus.

And “there is a risk that these accomplishments will be erased,” according to Monsoba, noting that this also applies to the return of social stigma for people with HIV. It is reported that so far, 70% of the AIDS control program in Uganda, whose annual budget is $ 500 million, has been funded by US aid money. According to the Ugandan UNHCR, the American “Pepfar” program did not only provide anti -virus drugs and HIV test devices, but also funded the salaries of more than 4,300 employees in Ugandan clinics, and 16,000 health aides in local communities.

Even Jane Francis Kanianji, 70, wonders about the period in which she can withstand without medications. HIV was diagnosed in the late 1990s, but she did not get treatment until after her husband’s death due to AIDS in 2002. Medicines helped her to survive, but today she is exhausted and infected with many diseases due to her weakening of her immune system.

“After Trump’s announcement, my doctor called me and asked me if I had enough medications,” Kanenji recounts. He told me that the clinic that I always go will be closed. When I heard that, I lost my consciousness. ”

. Funding 70% of the AIDS control program in Uganda, whose annual budget is $ 500 million, is done through US aid funds.