The United Nations warned Tuesday that abrupt and dramatic international funding cuts had devastating consequences for the global effort against HIV and AIDS.

“The global response to HIV has suffered its most significant setback in decades,” UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima told reporters in Geneva.

Presenting a new report, she warned of “devastating consequences of abrupt international funding cuts for many international donors, which sent shock waves through low- and middle-income countries”.

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She pointed to “the abrupt pause by the United States” after US President Donald Trump returned to the White House at the start of the year, but highlighted that other major donors had also significantly cut their foreign aid spending.

“The cuts are dramatic across the board,” she said.

Since the start of the year, “the complex ecosystem that sustains HIV services in dozens of low- and middle-income countries was shaken to its core”, she said.

Byanyima voiced particular concern about a “collapse” in HIV prevention services, warning that if left unaddressed risked resulting in “3.3 million additional new infections” by 2030.