NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenya has been recognised among seven countries that have reduced new HIV infections by nearly 80 per cent since 2010, according to a new UNAIDS report, marking one of the strongest global performances in the fight against HIV even as the agency warns that a worsening international funding crisis threatens to reverse decades of progress.
The report, released ahead of the 26th International AIDS Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, identifies Kenya alongside Benin, Eswatini, Lesotho, Nepal, Rwanda and Zimbabwe as countries demonstrating that sustained political commitment, investment and evidence-based HIV programmes can dramatically reduce new infections.
UNAIDS noted that Kenya has also made significant progress towards the global 95-95-95 targets, which aim for 95 per cent of people living with HIV to know their status, 95 per cent of those diagnosed to receive antiretroviral therapy (ART), and 95 per cent of those on treatment to achieve viral suppression.
However, the agency warned that global momentum to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 is becoming increasingly fragile due to shrinking international funding and cuts to prevention and community-based services.
“Although new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths are at their lowest levels in more than 30 years, the current HIV response is extremely fragile. Efforts to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 are at risk unless global solidarity is restored and inequalities are addressed,” the report states.
Globally, an estimated 1.2 million people acquired HIV in 2025, while around 570,000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses. UNAIDS warns that unless urgent action is taken to meet the 2030 targets, more than three million additional people could become infected with HIV by the end of the decade.
The report notes that approximately nine million of the estimated 41 million people living with HIV worldwide were not receiving treatment in 2025. Nearly half of all children living with HIV also lacked access to life-saving antiretroviral therapy.
UNAIDS highlighted scientific advances as offering renewed hope in HIV prevention, pointing to long-acting medicines that provide protection approaching vaccine-level effectiveness. Monthly and six-monthly injectable prevention medicines are gradually becoming available, while monthly oral options are in late-stage clinical trials.
“Scientific breakthroughs are giving us tools that previous generations could only dream of,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima.
“However, innovation without access is not innovation, it is injustice. The test of success is not whether medicines exist—it is whether the people who need them can get them, and at an affordable price.”
Several countries are already expanding access to new HIV prevention medicines. Brazil has increased the number of people accessing HIV prevention medication by 41 per cent over the past year, while Ethiopia and Uganda have expanded programmes using domestic and partner funding. South Africa is negotiating lower prices for the twice-yearly injectable drug lenacapavir.
However, UNAIDS estimates that around 20 million people require access to antiretroviral-based prevention medicines if new HIV infections are to be significantly reduced worldwide.
The report also raises concern over the sharp decline in international HIV financing.
International funding for HIV programmes fell from US$8.8 billion in 2024 to US$7.3 billion in 2025, representing an 18 per cent reduction and the lowest level recorded in nearly two decades. Overall global development assistance declined by 23 per cent in 2025, the steepest annual drop on record.
Many African countries with high HIV burdens continue to rely heavily on donor support, with some depending on overseas development assistance for more than 90 per cent of their HIV responses.
“The era of relying on international aid is over,” Byanyima said.
“Countries cannot wait and they cannot go backwards. The world must urgently fix the broken financial system and accelerate debt restructuring so that governments can invest in what matters most—the health, education and futures of their people.”
UNAIDS warned that HIV prevention services are particularly vulnerable because they depend heavily on donor funding. In sub-Saharan Africa, about 80 per cent of HIV prevention financing comes from international assistance.
The agency said community-led organisations, which provide essential HIV services to vulnerable populations, face severe disruptions as donor support declines. Funding for condoms has reportedly been reduced by more than 90 per cent in some countries, while services for key populations have experienced major cuts.
Beyond financing, the report also expressed concern over growing restrictions on human rights.
According to UNAIDS, 66 countries currently criminalise same-sex sexual relations, 168 criminalise sex work, 152 criminalise possession of small amounts of drugs and 14 criminalise transgender people, policies the agency says undermine access to HIV services.
Despite these challenges, UNAIDS welcomed the adoption in June 2026 of a new Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS by 149 UN member states, committing countries to ambitious 2030 targets, including placing 40 million people on treatment and expanding access to HIV prevention medicines to 20 million people.
The agency said achieving those commitments could prevent an additional 3.2 million new HIV infections and 1.3 million AIDS-related deaths by 2030.
Byanyima urged governments and development partners to sustain investment and strengthen collaboration to ensure progress made over the past decades is not lost.
“Despite enormous challenges, ending AIDS is still within reach,” she said. “The choice before us is clear: retreat and risk resurgence, or rethink, rebuild and rise to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.”
