More than four decades on from the identification of the human immunodeficiency viruses that cause Aids, the illness still has no cure. However, it is now an eminently treatable and preventable condition, based on advances in medicine and through public health and education programmes. Indeed, so optimistic was the United Nations aids agency (UNAIDS) last year that it set a realistic goal to end the Aids pandemic by 2030, implying a 90 per cent reduction in new infections and deaths.
However, such a breakthrough for humanity was only ever going to be made possible by the continuing support of the rich nations of the world funding the work of the UN agency and charities throughout the global South, where countries lack the infrastructure to achieve such a goal. Tragically, that support has been critically weakened by the loss of major sources of Western aid, and most significantly the funding and support that the United States provided.
