By Jennifer Rigby
(Reuters) - The United Nations agency focusing on the HIV/AIDS pandemic could close by the end of next year as the U.N. restructures in the face of a funding crisis, according to a U.N. document published online.
UNAIDS will "sunset" by the end of 2026, the document published on Thursday reads, part of a set of proposals from the U.N. to member states which they will have to decide on. It adds that UNAIDS' expertise should be shifted into the wider U.N. system in the following year.
The U.N. is streamlining as it copes with the fallout from U.S. foreign aid cuts under President Donald Trump that have gutted humanitarian agencies.
UNAIDS said in a statement in response to the document that it already had a transition plan in place which would see a 55% reduction in staff in the short term and a review in 2027 that would ultimately lead to its closure.
It said any accelerated timeline as outlined in the U.N. document, which was drafted by the Secretary General, would have to be approved by the UNAIDS board.
UNAIDS began operating in 1996. Since the first cases of HIV were reported more than 40 years ago, 88 million people have become infected and 42 million have died from AIDS-related illnesses, it said.
The organisation said the rollout of new life-saving treatments and better access to care saw AIDS-related deaths halve from 1.3 million in 2010 to 630,000 in 2023. But it warned nearly one quarter of those living with HIV do not have access to those treatments and new infections are rising in some regions.
"AIDS is not over; the global AIDS response has been upended in recent months," the UNAIDS statement said, adding much more needed to be done if the world wanted to achieve the goal of ending AIDS by 2030.
(Reporting by Jennifer Rigby in London; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
