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STORY: UN / WORLD AIDS DAY REPORT
TRT: 03:00
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 01 DECEMBER 2025, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, New York City aerial view
01 DECEMBER 2025, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, press briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) César Antonio Núñez, Director of the UNAIDS New York Office:
“This time around I'm here to talk about the launch of our Global Report: Overcoming disruption, transforming the response. This was launched last week in Geneva, and it refers to the importance of overcoming the current disruption in the financing of the AIDS response.”
4. Wide shot, press briefing room
5. SOUNDBITE (English) César Antonio Núñez, Director of the UNAIDS New York Office:
“I have three top messages for you this afternoon. The first one is that the HIV epidemic is not over, and our previous progress is at risk. In the most recent SDG report, SDG 3 has been labeled, particularly 3.3 that refers to HIV, has been labeled as a pathfinder, as one of the Sustainable Development Goals that has been moving very well. Unfortunately, given the reduction of resources in recent months, that is in peril. OECD projects that external health aid will drop by 30 to 40 per cent in 2025 compared to 2023, and that is causing immediate and severe disruption to health services in low- and middle-income countries.”
6. Med shot, journalist
7. SOUNDBITE (English) César Antonio Núñez, Director of the UNAIDS New York Office:
“My second message has to do with the recent declines impacting HIV prevention and community services in particular. And this is important because the resources, the response and prevention, has kind of flatlined. We were looking at an increased take-up on treatment, and that has also been reduced. And that is impacting again prevention programs for young people and key populations.”
8. Wide shot, press briefing room
9. SOUNDBITE (English) César Antonio Núñez, Director of the UNAIDS New York Office:
“So, that will take us back, 3.9 million people newly acquiring HIV by 2030, in excess of what we would have hoped to be the end of AIDS as a public health threat.”
10. Wide shot, press briefing room
11. SOUNDBITE (English) César Antonio Núñez, Director of the UNAIDS New York Office:
“So, countries have taken swift action to close the funding gaps. Will the funding sources that still remain and the countries filling in the gaps be enough? Not necessarily. Other actions will be important. And in this case, prioritization will be essential. And that does not come in a cookie cutter approach. Each country will need to decide on what their priorities are going to be. Evidently, we point to prevention because we need to reduce the number of new infections in order to address, you know, the growing epidemic.”
12. Wide shot, press briefing room
“The HIV epidemic is not over, and our previous progress is at risk,” warned César Antonio Núñez, Director of the UNAIDS New York Office, as the UN marked World AIDS Day with an assessment of shrinking global resources.
Briefing reporters at UN headquarters, Núñez said the findings of UNAIDS’ new Global Report: Overcoming disruption, transforming the response, point to mounting threats driven by a sharp decline in international funding. The report, launched last week in Geneva, underscores “the importance of overcoming the current disruption in the financing of the AIDS response.”
He highlighted severe pressures on countries already struggling to maintain services. “OECD projects that external health aid will drop by 30 to 40 per cent in 2025 compared to 2023,” he said, adding that the cuts are “causing immediate and severe disruption to health services in low- and middle-income countries.”
Núñez said the downturn is hitting prevention and community programs first. “The resources, the response and prevention, has kind of flatlined,” he said. Treatment uptake, once rising steadily, “has also been reduced,” with consequences for “prevention programs for young people and key populations.”
These setbacks carry long-term risks, he cautioned. Without urgent corrective action, “that will take us back, 3.9 million people newly acquiring HIV by 2030, in excess of what we would have hoped to be the end of AIDS as a public health threat.”
While some governments have rushed to close gaps, Núñez said the efforts could be insufficient. “Will the funding sources that still remain and the countries filling in the gaps be enough? Not necessarily,” he said.
Countries will have to make sharper strategic choices. “Prioritization will be essential,” Núñez said.
He added, “Evidently, we point to prevention because we need to reduce the number of new infections in order to address…the growing epidemic.”
