United States President, Donald Trump has suspended financial support for the Human Immune Virus, (HIV) treatment programmes in Nigeria and other developing countries.
The executive order issued by Trump on his first day in office will lead to a 90-day halt in disbursements from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR),
PEPFAR is a US initiative that provides HIV/AIDS treatment across Africa and other regions with an annual budget of $6.5 billion, delivers life-saving HIV/AIDS treatment to over 20.6 million people globally.
The executive order by Trump would halt the disbursement of fund for a program that has reportedly saved 26 million lives since its inception.
Reacting to the development, the Spokesperson, US State Department Tammy Bruce avered that the US will no longer dole out funds with no return for the American people. This is one of the pillars of Trump’s campaign, “America First.“
Meanwhile Public health experts are raising concerns about the potential long-term effects, with fears that the Trump administration might entirely terminate the programme, with Nigeria likely to be impacted the most negatively as one of the countries most affected by HIV globally.
With approximately two million Nigerians living with HIV, PEPFAR has been critical in providing life-saving medication and bolstering healthcare infrastructure with over $6 billion for both saving lives and helping to curtail further spread of HIV/AIDS.