the health, social and economic gains from financing the HIV response in Africa

Global leaders have declared a commitment to accelerate progress in ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. The life-saving potential alone of achieving this goal should provide the impetus to dedicate adequate resources towards the HIV response. Furthermore, as this report highlights, the potential dividends from these investments are not limited to the lives saved. Rather, there is a triple dividend on offer across intricately connected policy priorities: health, social and economic. The findings from this report demonstrate how investments made to respond to the HIV epidemic could contribute to broader social and economic priorities, both through the knock-on implications of reduced mortality and morbidity and by freeing up resources to put towards these broader priorities. 

Progress in advancing the global response to HIV and AIDS has, however, been lagging. Multiple recent global crises, including the covid-19 pandemic, have hampered efforts and placed strong pressure on financing for health. Restricting the movement of people to contain the spread of covid-19 has limited access to critical HIV prevention and treatment services, particularly among key and vulnerable populations. It has also exacerbated existing inequalities, making vulnerable groups less likely to access HIV and AIDS services. Simultaneously, governments have been forced by economic conditions and burgeoning debt levels to make cuts in domestic funding for HIV and AIDS programmes. Without political commitment and bold action, these fiscal constraints will push targets to end the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat increasingly out of reach.