GENEVA – UNAIDS has released its 2025 Global AIDS Update, “AIDS, Crisis and the Power to Transform.” The report warns that a serious funding shortage is putting decades of progress at risk unless countries make bold changes in how they run and fund HIV programs.
The report points out that recent major cuts from international donors have had a big impact. Even though 2024 saw progress in fighting HIV, sudden drops in funding have stopped prevention programs and put treatment services in danger.
“This is more than a funding gap, it’s a ticking time bomb,” said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “We have seen services disappear overnight. Health workers have lost their jobs, and people—especially children and those at higher risk—are losing access to care.” Key populations are groups at a higher risk for HIV, like men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs, people in prisons, sex workers, and transgender people.
While some countries are putting more of their own funds towards the HIV response, global progress cannot rest on domestic budgets alone. The report urges the international community to step up, secure the funding needed, support countries in closing gaps in prevention and treatment, remove legal and social barriers, and strengthen local communities.
Asia-Pacific faces a rising HIV threat.
In 2024, around 6.9 million people in Asia and the Pacific were living with HIV. This region has the second-largest epidemic after Eastern and Southern Africa. AIDS-related deaths have dropped by half since 2010, but 150,000 people still died here last year. One in four new HIV infections worldwide comes from Asia-Pacific. In 2024, the region saw 300,000 new infections. Since 2010, new HIV cases have dropped by only 17%.
Nine countries in this region are among the 32 where new infections have increased since 2010: Fiji (3091%), the Philippines (562%), Afghanistan (187%), Papua New Guinea (84%), Bhutan (67%), Sri Lanka (48%), Timor-Leste (42%), Bangladesh (33%), and Lao PDR (16%).
Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a medicine that prevents HIV, reached fewer than 250,000 people in the region in 2024—far from the 8 million target. Not enough people are receiving prevention services tailored to their needs. Only about half of sex workers, a third of men who have sex with men and transgender people, and a fifth of people who inject drugs accessed prevention services last year. Young people from key populations are still highly at risk.
“Our hope to end AIDS as a public health threat in Asia-Pacific by 2030 is now hanging by a thread. Every two minutes, someone new is infected,” said Eamonn Murphy, UNAIDS Regional Director for Asia Pacific and Eastern Europe, Central Asia. He called on governments and the global community to fund prevention, treatment, PrEP, and new long-acting medicines.
Fiji saw HIV diagnoses triple in 2024 compared to the previous year, and early figures show that half of those on antiretroviral therapy likely caught HIV from injecting drugs. The report highlights Fiji’s urgent need for harm reduction services. It also describes how US funding cuts in the Philippines have left a gap in prevention programs for young people at risk, especially young men who have sex with men.
UNAIDS HIV testing and treatment need more support
In 2024, 79% of people living with HIV in Asia-Pacific knew their status. Just 69% were on treatment, and 66% had a suppressed viral load. A quarter of people worldwide who are not getting HIV treatment live in this region. In 2024, less than half of the people with HIV in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Fiji, Indonesia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, and the Philippines received antiretroviral therapy.
“There is a crisis for those who can’t get HIV services or are too scared to seek them,” said Harry Prabowo, Coordinator for APN+, the Asia Pacific Network of People Living with HIV. “Our region needs to do more to help those who are left out of care and community support.”
Even with these hurdles, the report gives credit to several countries for their progress. Nepal is one of just five countries worldwide that cut new HIV infections by over 75% since 2010. Cambodia treats nearly all who are diagnosed, with more than 98% of treated people achieving viral suppression in 2024. Australia is close to reaching the “95-95-95” targets for testing, treatment, and suppressed viral load.
Thailand now funds more than 90% of its HIV response from its budget. Bhutan, Pakistan, Timor-Leste, and Thailand are set to increase their domestic HIV funding in 2026. Indonesia grew its domestic HIV spending more than four times between 2010 and 2022. Yet, across the region, only half the resources needed for the HIV response are currently available.
