This is why UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres calls out for a restructuring of debt to free the countries for investing in the health of their people.
Debt trap is not new, but its impact has become more lethal for those who are likely to be left behind. "Loan interest
rates suddenly rose by three-four times when the war in Ukraine broke out. Countries-in-debt are nowhere (geographically) close to where the war is being fought and yet reeling under debt which has grown manifold. When the low-and middle-income countries go to the market to borrow, they do not borrow at the same rate as a richer nation would. A poor country has to borrow at four times higher rate than a country like Germany would from the same market. There are inequalities even in the financial architecture," explained Winnie Byanyima.
This is the reason why UN head Antonio also called upon reforming the whole financial architecture to level the ground for developing countries.
US$ 500 billion spent on war in Ukraine but AIDS response has US$ 9.5 billion funding gap
One of the health financings that has taken a major blow due to debt trap, skewed financial architecture and spending priorities, is of the global HIV response. US$ 9.5 billion is the funding gap globally - this money is holding back the HIV response as per the plans for delivering on 2025 targets and goals.
Even development aid from richer nations is fast shrinking. "But over US$ 500 billion have been spent by warring parties in one war in Ukraine," said Winnie. "The cost of not ending AIDS would be exponentially higher than the cost of ending AIDS by 2030. That is why we must ensure that governments fully fund the global AIDS response."
Compared to 2022, global HIV financing did not increase in 2023 but instead dropped by 5%. The decline in domestic resourcing for HIV was even higher (6%) in 2023 (compared to 2022). It is important to note that almost two-thirds of HIV financing comes from domestic resources within a country (59%) - which is being severely constrained by the debt crisis.
The latest UNAIDS report 2024 "The Urgency of Now: AIDS at a Crossroads" which was launched last month at the world's largest AIDS conference (25th International AIDS Conference or AIDS 2024) shows that in countries and regions where HIV financing has declined significantly - such as in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the Middle East and North Africa - the HIV epidemic is growing. Around half of the total resources needed by 2025, and 93% of the current HIV funding gap, are outside of Sub-Saharan Africa.
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