The United Nations AIDS agency is warning that severe international funding cuts could lead to an additional 4 million deaths related to the disease by 2029.

The United States was the single biggest donor to the global response to HIV/AIDS before the administration of President Donald Trump abruptly halted foreign development assistance in January.

UNAIDS says the withdrawal of assistance will have catastrophic consequences for the fight against the pandemic.

So, what can countries do to reduce the impact of the funding cuts?

And why did wealthy nations end support for AIDS prevention and treatment programmes?

Presenter: Adrian Finighan

Guests:

Dr Helen Rees – director of the Reproductive Health and HIV Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand

Dr Krishna Udayakumar – founding director of the Duke Global Health Innovation Center

Nidhi Bouri – former deputy assistant administrator for Global Health at USAID