US delivers HIV prevention drug to two African states

WASHINGTON: The United States said Tuesday it has delivered a new treatment to prevent HIV in two African countries, months after President Donald Trump dramatically cut global aid.

The US plans to expand the rollout of the drug Lenacapavir by working with an international group, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, as well as the Gilead Sciences pharmaceutical company.

Some 1,000 doses have been delivered in total to Eswatini and Zambia, and they will start to be administered this week, said Peter Sands, executive director of the Global Fund.

Jeremy Lewin, who coordinates aid at the State Department, said the United States planned to finance two million doses of the drug to low- or middle-income African nations.

He said the initial goal will be to reach the target by 2028 but that it could be met by mid-2027.

Lenacapavir is a new injectable HIV treatment that only needs to be taken twice a year. According to experts, it represents a major improvement over treatments requiring a daily pill.

Manufactured by Gilead Sciences, an American firm, Lenacapavir could significantly reduce the number of new HIV infections, particularly among pregnant and breastfeeding women.

Since returning to office in January, Trump has slashed more than 80 percent of foreign assistance, calling it wasteful and arguing that it does not serve US interests.

His administration instead has said it will target assistance to individual countries.

The US government has already slashed other longstanding HIV/AIDS prevention programs including for PrEP, which had been encouraged to prevent HIV among people engaged in high-risk activities.

Since 2010, global efforts have reduced new HIV infections by 40 percent, but UNAIDS data still shows 1.3 million new infections projected for 2024.

Daniel O’Day, Gilead Sciences’ chairman and CEO, said efforts were underway to authorize distribution of the drug in Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Namibia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

“This is a really important moment in the history of HIV,” he said.

It is the “first time in history medication is given in Africa the same year it was approved in the US,” he said.

The initiative comes amid dire predictions of the effects of US aid cuts.

Research submitted Monday by experts in Spain, Brazil and Mozambique predicted that the world could see 22.6 million more preventable deaths by 2030 due to the cuts in aid by the United States as well as European countries.