The US government has halted the support for HIV treatment in Nigeria and other developing countries following an order by President Donald Trump.

The US State Department stopped the disbursement of funds from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a programme for HIV treatment in Africa and developing countries, for at least 90 days.

The action originates from President Trump’s executive order on foreign aid, which he signed on his first day in office last Monday.

The order instructed all government agencies managing foreign development assistance programmes to halt the disbursement of funds.

As a result, nearly all US global health funding was halted immediately.

The NPR reported that PEPFAR has stopped disbursing funding and is likely to suspend operations for at least three months if an exemption is not made for the programme in the coming weeks.

With an annual budget of $6.5 billion, PEPFAR delivers HIV/AIDS treatment to more than 20.6 million people. It has helped save lives and curb the spread of the virus.

The US State Department fact sheet showed that PEPFAR has saved the lives of an estimated 26 million people since its inception.

But speaking on the ban, the agency was quoted as saying, “The United States is no longer going to blindly dole out money with no return for the American people,”

However, public health experts fear the new Trump administration might terminate the entire programme.

Some others hoped that Marco Rubio’s appointment as Secretary of State could signal positive news for PEPFAR, given his past support for the initiative.

Effect on Nigeria
About two million Nigerians currently live with HIV with many of them benefitting from PEPFAR.

As one of the countries with the highest HIV burden globally, Nigeria relies heavily on programmes such as PEPFAR for access to life-saving medications, and healthcare infrastructure support.

Over the years, PEPFAR has contributed over $6 billion to support Nigeria’s national HIV/AIDS response.

The suspension or permanent halt to the programme is thus likely to affect the efforts to control HIV in Nigeria.