UK cuts aid to help fight AIDS and HIV labeled ‘exasperating myopia’ by charities UK News

The UK has cut this year’s aid to the UN AIDS and HIV agency by £ 12.5million – over 80% – in a move condemned as’ shameful ‘and’ excessively myopic ”.

Funding has fallen to £ 2.5million from £ 15million in 2020, UNAIDS said.

It is the last of a drip of revelations on the impact of Boris JohnsonThe decision last November to reduce the UK spending target on overseas aid to 0.5% of national income from 0.7% in the face of fierce opposition from MPs and government agencies. ‘help.

This decrease translates into a reduction of over £ 4 billion in the overseas aid budget.

The government said the “seismic impact” of the pandemic had forced it to make “difficult but necessary” decisions. It remains one of the largest foreign aid donors in the world.

News that global AIDS efforts and HIV would be affected by the cuts which have sparked an uproar among activists, especially as they come the year Britain takes a leading role on the world stage, hosting a G7 summit of powers and a United Nations summit on climate change.

“These shameful cuts in HIV funding risk abandoning the UK’s leadership and influence in the HIV response at a pivotal time,” said Saoirse Fitzpatrick, advocacy manager at STOPAIDS, a network of some 70 organizations. .

“These cuts will hit the world’s most marginalized communities the hardest. They threaten to undo decades of progress in the HIV response that UK Aid has made possible.

“With 690,000 people dying from AIDS-related illnesses each year, the UK government urgently needs to change course and protect its funding for UNAIDS and other organizations doing vital work in the HIV response .

Christine Stegling, executive director of the Frontline AIDS charity, said: “For the first time in decades there is a very real threat of hard-won progress on HIV and AIDS …