HIV/AIDS: Alarming signal to the global community
Germany reduces life-saving funding for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
The German government plans to cut its contribution to the Global Fund for the 2026–2028 financing period by 300 million euros. Federal Development Minister Reem Alabali Radovan today announced a pledge of one billion euros. This represents a reduction of around 23 percent compared to the previous three-year funding period.
If this decision stands, the consequences for global efforts to combat HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria will be dramatic. German cuts alone could result in up to 440,000 additional deaths and 7.8 million new infections with one of the three pathogens, according to modeling based on Global Fund data.
Trump’s withdrawal met with further cuts
Following the drastic rollback of commitments by the United States under the Trump administration, until recently the world’s largest funder of HIV/AIDS programs, enormous gaps have opened in the global budget. Life-saving care structures are collapsing. The internationally agreed goal of ending AIDS, TB, and malaria by 2030 is moving ever further out of reach. Yet with the availability of new preventive medicines, the world now has the means to curb the 1.3 million new HIV infections occurring globally each year. AIDS is a preventable disease.
Sylvia Urban, Board Member of Action against AIDS Germany, says:
“These cuts come at an extremely precarious moment. To avert catastrophe, wealthier countries should be closing the funding gaps left by the U.S. withdrawal, but Germany is doing the opposite. With stronger engagement, the German government could have sent a powerful signal of international responsibility and countered the global trend toward disengagement. Although Germany likes to present itself as a ‘Global Health Champion’, this opportunity has been missed.”
Millions of lives saved
Since its founding, the Global Fund has saved more than 70 million lives, reduced mortality from AIDS, TB and malaria by 63 percent, and decisively strengthened community and health systems in over 100 countries. In 2024 alone, 25.6 million people received life-saving HIV therapy, 7.4 million were treated for TB, and 162 million mosquito nets protected children and families from malaria.
The Global Fund is regarded as one of the most effective, efficient and transparent instruments in global health: every euro invested saves lives, strengthens health systems and generates a social and economic return worth 19 times the amount invested. Cuts at this level are politically and economically short-sighted.
Silke Klumb, Executive Director of the Deutsche Aidshilfe, says:
“Progress against HIV and other infectious diseases is only possible when programs are developed and implemented in cooperation with communities. Care structures built up over more than 40 years are now being recklessly dismantled. The world has not yet understood the scale of the danger posed by these cuts: the global HIV pandemic could quickly flare up again – in the worst case with mass deaths. We must not allow this to happen!”
Fatal consequences worldwide
If the Global Fund does not receive the necessary resources in the upcoming replenishment round, millions of people in countries of the Global South will lose access to treatment, prevention, testing and counselling. Women and children will be particularly affected: tens of thousands of pregnant women will no longer receive medicines that prevent HIV transmission to their children.
The consequences go far beyond the countries directly affected by the cuts. They increase the risk of uncontrolled outbreaks of infectious diseases, thereby also endangering global health security.
Moreover, Germany weakens its role as a reliable and shaping partner in the international health architecture. Especially at a time when other major donor countries are reducing their contributions and multilateral approaches are under pressure, a decline in German engagement weighs twice as heavily politically.
G20 Summit offers an opportunity for course correction
One positive note should be highlighted: Federal Minister Reem Alabali-Radovan, her Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and committed members of the Bundestag opposed the originally planned cut of 450 million euros in the budget negotiations.
“We take this as a sign that there is still hope,” says Tilman Rüppel, Advocacy Officer at medmissio – Institute for Global Health. He points to the G20 Summit from 22 to 23 November in Johannesburg as an opportunity: “What we need now are not cuts, but an increase in funding for the Global Fund. The Federal Government must not go to the summit empty-handed but should correct Germany’s contribution upwards in Johannesburg! This would demonstrate reliability, solidarity and international leadership.”
This could also be achieved, for example, by expanding Germany’s global leadership role in the debt conversion program.
18 billion US dollars is the minimum
For secure planning and to protect and expand life-saving programs, the Global Fund needs at least 18 billion US dollars for the next three years. Based on Germany’s economic capacity, its fair contribution amounts to 1.8 billion euros over three years. Any amount below 1.4 billion euros would endanger the continuation of ongoing, life-saving programs.
Contact
Deutsche Aidshilfe
Holger Wicht (Press Spokesperson)
Tel: +49 30 69 00 87 16
E-Mail: presse@dah.aidshilfe.de
Action against AIDS Germany
Peter Wiessner
Tel: +49 (0) 167 82 188 269
E-Mail: wiessner@aktionsbuendnis-aids.de
medmissio
Kai Fraass
Tel: +49 931 – 80 48 537
E-Mail: Kai.Fraass@medmissio.de