Translated with AI
A new report from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) shows how cuts in international funding are devastating support systems for people living with HIV worldwide. This is particularly acute in Tajikistan, the UN press service reports.
Takhmina Khaidarova's story is in many ways illustrative in this context. She contracted HIV from her husband, a migrant worker working in Russia. After his death, Takhmina was disowned by her own family.
"Before that, I didn't even know HIV existed in Tajikistan," she admits. Today, thanks to the Tajik Network of Women Living with HIV, Tahmina helps others cope with the isolation she experienced. However, such examples may soon become rare.
Recent freezes and cuts in international aid threaten to shut down programs run by community organizations. The Spin-Plus Foundation, which works with at-risk individuals and people who inject drugs, is already feeling the effects. "People who need ongoing support—social, human, and advisory—are being left without it," says the foundation's director, Pulod Jamolov. Staff cuts and branch closures have become a reality.
Approximately 60 percent of Tajikistan's national HIV response plan is funded by international donors. Until January 2025, 20 percent of these funds came from the US-based PEPFAR initiative.
Social and structural barriers in Tajikistan exacerbate the situation: a weak healthcare system, gender inequality, and long-entrenched norms fuel stigma and discrimination. Nearly 97 percent of women living with HIV conceal their status, even from family members, and 64 percent face discrimination, including from healthcare workers.
Authorities estimate that a 10–20 percent reduction in funding for the fight against HIV in Tajikistan could lead to a 135 percent increase in new infections and a five percent increase in mortality, which would erase years of progress in this area.
