Seattle Medium: Show Me The Money: Global HIV/AIDS Funding On The Decline
“Throughout AIDS 2016, whispers that global funds to fight HIV/AIDS have begun to dry up have turned to shouts. … Donor government funding to support HIV efforts in low- and middle-income countries fell for the first time in five years in 2015, according to data gathered and analyzed jointly by the Kaiser Family Foundation and UNAIDS. In U.S. currency, over $1 billion dried up; AIDS money dropped from $8.6 billion in 2014 to $7.5 billion in 2015, a 13 percent decline. … ‘We know that governments are facing fiscal austerity measures,’ explained [Jen Kates, Kaiser Family Foundation vice president and director of global health and HIV policy]. ‘We also know that they are faced with competing demands, including refugee and humanitarian emergencies that are affecting their budgets.’ No matter the explanations, activists are worried — and angry…” (Villarosa, 7/22).