The Conversation: It will take more than $36 billion every year to end AIDS
Charles Wiysonge, professor of clinical epidemiology at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Stellenbosch University

“…Current epidemiological and financial trends suggest there’s a major risk of a substantial shortfall in the funds required to sustain life-saving antiretroviral programs. … UNAIDS and other international development agencies hope that the growing need for funding will be partly solved by expanded health spending in low-income countries. But the scarcity of adequate funds to provide antiretrovirals to people living with HIV — together with the possibility of rising drug resistance to existing antiretroviral treatments — will make achieving the goal to end AIDS by 2030 extremely difficult. … Meeting the needs of people living with HIV will require a combination of the following evidence-informed strategies: concentrating development assistance for HIV in these low-income countries; improving the efficiency of HIV programs; increasing domestic financing; lowering the cost of treatment (including the prices of antiretrovirals); and reducing future incidence through more concerted efforts…” (7/19).