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US foreign aid freeze threatens efforts to curb HIV epidemic in PH

Article (news)

Rowegie Abanto

ABS-CBN News

<div><strong><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/173821977529020190913-free-hiv-test-jc-10.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">The Quezon City government conducts free HIV testing as part of its HIV awareness and prevention campaign on Sept. 13, 2019. <em>Jire Carreon, ABS-CBN News/File</em></span></span></span></strong>MANILA <strong>(UPDATED) </strong>— The foreign aid freeze announced by the Trump administration is threatening efforts to stamp out the spread of HIV in the Philippines, one of the world&#x27;s fastest-growing epidemics.</div><div><br/></div><p>In an internal memo issued last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that they were <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/1/25/us-freezes-almost-all-aid-except-for-israel-egypt-arms-memo-0841?fbclid=IwY2xjawIHvLJleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHSv5vv91tpHleBA_6S1wChF56DjjujcMqfa7ZU7f6VTUFZOjrju5orSzaQ_aem_e391j06IBOeKRuo7TqJzFw">pausing the release of fresh funds to its partners and allies </a>pending a 90-day review of the US foreign aid.</p><p>This sent shockwaves across organizations worldwide, including in the Philippines. This week, several non-governmental organizations announced that they were partly affected by the order.</p><p>One of them is LoveYourself, one of the largest sexual health clinics in the Philippines that champions HIV prevention and treatment.</p><p>In a statement, LoveYourself said that its essential services like HIV testing and refilling of life-saving anti-retroviral drugs (ARV) and Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) as well as health consultations for trans people &quot;continue to operate as usual.&quot; </p><p>However, it said that delivery of PrEP and self-testing kits would &quot;now incur a fee&quot; because of the shift in US policy.</p><p>The organization vowed to explore alternative solutions to resume free services as soon as possible.</p><p>While Reuters reported Wednesday that the US issued a waiver for &quot;life-saving&quot; assistance in US President Donald Trump&#x27;s freeze on US foreign aid, health and humanitarian groups around the world, including LoveYourself, were still uncertain if and how they could resume work.</p><p>The waiver excluded services like abortion, gender, diversity, transgender and non-life saving work.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/1/30/aid-health-groups-concerned-about-stop-work-order-despite-us-freeze-waiver-0953">Aid, health groups concerned about ‘stop work’ order, despite US aid freeze waiver</a></div><p>UNAIDS, the United Nations agency leading the fight against HIV, said on Wednesday the waiver included HIV treatment, and that it would lobby for other HIV services to be included too, including prevention.</p><p>However, officials from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), aid groups, and health workers in South Africa, told Reuters they were unclear what the waiver meant for their work or if it was in effect, a full reversal of previous orders telling them to stop work immediately.</p><p>LoveYourself founder Vinn Pagtakhan told ABS-CBN News Thursday that while they had heard about the waiver, there were still &quot;no updates&quot; if the Philippines was included in the waiver. </p><p>&quot;We are also waiting for updates from them,&quot; Pagtakhan said.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/1/25/us-aid-freeze-unlikely-to-severely-affect-ph-dfa-exec-1409?fbclid=IwY2xjawIHvLVleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHRjrSm1vrMeNOeeO-f8L-wKw6uR7W8WuDlY5zw0BRdPY_L5-O3O-UY53lw_aem_qj2vHwdB1Qp44uQhGgTyXQ">US aid freeze unlikely to &#x27;severely affect&#x27; PH: DFA exec</a></div><div><strong>&#x27;FUNDING FREEZE MAY MAKE HIV RESISTANT TO MEDS&#x27;</strong></div><p>Eros de Vera, who has <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/07/11/23/standing-up-to-hiv-stigma-through-social-media">reached an undetectable HIV viral load since 2012</a> through ARV, expressed worries about the US freeze order. </p><p>&quot;Mapanganib ang paghinto sa pag-inom ng ARV dahil posibleng maging dahilan ito upang maging resistant sa ARV ang HIV,&quot; De Vera told ABS-CBN News.</p><p>(Stopping ARV medication is dangerous because it may cause HIV to become resistant to ARVs.)</p><p>Red Whistle, one of the leading HIV advocacy organizations in the Philippines,  said in a statement Wednesday that they joined global HIV activists in condemning what they called a &quot;murderous&quot; freeze order.</p><p>The group said it was &quot;done without regard for the lives of millions of people living with HIV who are dependent on aid for treatment.&quot;</p><p>It pointed out that the US through the President&#x27;s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has provided more than P2 billion since 2020 to support the Philippine HIV response, adding the program has committed P875 million more until 2026 right before the aid freeze order.</p><p>&quot;PEPFAR funding has been instrumental in providing treatment and preventive services. A reduction in funding would pose challenges for the Philippines in reaching its targets and could hinder efforts to curb the fastest-growing HIV epidemic in the Asia-Pacific region,&quot; it said.</p><p>The Philippines was recording as many as 58 new HIV cases per day in the second quarter of 2024, according to a report from the Department of Health&#x27;s epidemiology bureau released in October.</p><p>The DOH report had forecast that by the end of 2024, there would be 215,400 estimated people living with HIV in the Philippines.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/2024/10/8/ph-recorded-58-new-hiv-cases-a-day-in-q2-1216">PH recorded 58 new HIV cases a day in Q2</a></div><p>When asked about the US foreign aid freeze and its impact on the delivery of HIV services in the country, the DOH noted that the agency&#x27;s health services as well as the expansion of state insurer Philippine Health Insurance Corp&#x27;s benefit packages continue to be &quot;unimpeded.&quot; </p><p>The DOH also supplies HIV treatment and detection tools through several clinics.</p><div><strong>—with reports from Reuters and Agence France-Presse<br/></strong></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO:</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1V4XTg5x_Xw?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>The foreign aid freeze announced by the Trump administration is threatening efforts to stamp out the spread of HIV in the Philippines, one of the world's fastest-growing epidemics.</p>

The foreign aid freeze announced by the Trump administration is threatening efforts to stamp out the spread of HIV in the Philippines, one of the world's fastest-growing epidemics.