More than 500 LGBTQ+ activists, health workers and allies have written to the Prime Minister calling for the UK to increase its funding commitment to fight AIDS globally.
During the last replenishment round of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, the UK reduced funding by almost 30% from £1.4 billion to £1 billion. There is widespread concern that funding will be further reduced this November as part of the Global Fund replenishment, which occurs every 3 years. This follows major cuts from the US to HIV prevention and treatment programmes for the LGBTQ+ community in lower-income countries.
Activists highlight that new proposals by the US Congress to reinstate funding will “create a two-tier response to the pandemic where only those deemed worthy by the US government will receive US-funded medicines to protect themselves.”
The open letter, released today via UK advocacy organisation Future Advocacy, includes many signatories who, for safety reasons, are unable to share their names, demonstrating the security concerns experienced by countless LGBTQ+ people in their daily lives, which also make accessing lifesaving HIV care difficult, and sometimes impossible.
Read the full letter to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer here.