LONDON (Reuters) - Backtracking by international donors in funding for HIV/AIDS may undermine years of progress and is already putting lives at risk, the health aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Thursday.
In a report on AIDS in eight sub-Saharan African countries, it said major donors have decided to cap, cut or halt spending on HIV treatment and AIDS drugs in the past year and a half.
Major donors include the United States, the World Bank, the health funding agency UNITAID, and backers of the Global Fund.
"How can we give up the fight halfway and pretend that the crisis is over?" said Mit Philips, a health policy analyst for MSF and one of the authors of the report.
"There is a real risk that many ... will die within the next few years if necessary steps are not taken now".
An estimated 33 million people around the world are infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS, and more than half of the 9.5 million people who need AIDS drugs cannot get them, according to the United Nations.
