The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for access expansion to newly approved human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) medication amid “sharp and sudden” global funding cuts.
This year has been a volatile period for the global response to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), the chronic condition caused by HIV. A sharp drop in international funding – led by the US – has led to the disruption of HIV prevention, treatment and testing services .
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates that external health assistance is projected to drop by 30% to 40% in 2025 compared with 2023. While the WHO is still assessing the scale of the impact of foreign aid cuts, access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) medication is believed to have declined dramatically.
PrEP has become an important tool in preventing HIV infection, helping reduce the risk of contracting the virus by up to 99%; however, its use has been disrupted this year. The AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition estimates that 2.5 million people who relied on PrEP in 2024 lost access to their medications in 2025 due solely to donor funding cuts.
Via a statement that coincided with World AIDS day on 1 December 2025, WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “We face significant challenges, with cuts to international funding, and prevention stalling.
“At the same time, we have significant opportunities, with exciting new tools with the potential to change the trajectory of the HIV epidemic. Expanding access to those tools for people at risk of HIV everywhere must be priority number one for all governments and partners.”
One of those new tools is Gilead’s Yeztugo, an injectable PrEP version of lenacapavir. Lenacapavir was first approved in 2022 under the brand name Sunlenca for the treatment of HIV infection in adults with multi-drug resistance.
The injectable version of lenacapavir given twice a year offers a highly effective, long-acting alternative to daily oral pills and other shorter-acting options. WHO officially endorsed the drug as an additional PrEP option in July 2025, calling the injection the “next best thing” in the absence of any approved vaccine.
GlobalData analysts stated that the approval of Yeztugo is a “momentous step in improving PrEP options available for people vulnerable to contracting HIV”.
The WHO says that the HIV response now “stands at a crossroads”, pointing to the stagnation in prevention efforts. A total of 1.3 million new infections were recorded in 2024. UNAIDS says that a failure to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 – a key target of the Global AIDS Strategy – could result in an additional 3.3 million new HIV infections between 2025 and 2030.
UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima said: “The funding crisis has exposed the fragility of the progress we fought so hard to achieve.
“We know what works—we have the science, tools, and proven strategies. What we need now is political courage. Investing in communities, in prevention, in innovation and in protecting human rights as the path to end AIDS.”
Separately, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) 2025 HIV/AIDS surveillance report recently revealed that countries within the continent are currently failing to test and treat HIV early.
