(Rio de Janeiro) Today organizations from Haiti, Uganda, South Africa, Tanzania, Germany and the US joined in a protest targeting Ambassador Anne-Claire Amprou as she formally opened the Government of France’s booth at the 26th International AIDS Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She was interrupted by the protesters in front of a crowd of conference delegates the French government had invited to the opening. Images are available here, here and here (photo credit: Lucas Wolff).
Chanting “You have blood on your hands! Funding cuts kill!” and carrying banners and signs reading “Your aid cuts, our AIDS deaths,” the activists were protesting Ambassador Amprou’s massive cut to the French government contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund), overseeing an unprecedented 60% funding reduction (or €1 billion).
“Ambassador Amprou and the entire French government must be shamed for their single handed decision to slash life saving HIV prevention, treatment and human rights programs funded by the Global Fund,” said Housing Works CEO Charles KIng, who was part of the protest. “We will continue to confront Ambassador Amprou, and the French government, everywhere they are.”
The government of France is the second largest donor to the Global Fund, after the US, and helped create the Global Fund more than 25 years ago.
“Ambassador Amprou’s hypocrisy and betrayal of people with HIV are deadly,” said Soeurette Policar, the leader of ODELPA, a Haitian human rights organization fighting HIV who also protested Amprou.
“The French government must be held accountable for their deadly policy decisions,” said Asia Russell, Executive Director of Health GAP.
A fully funded Global Fund has never been more important, because of major funding disruptions and cuts caused by the Trump Administration’s retreat from global HIV and health funding. Massive Global Fund budget cuts would cause a double crisis, according to the activists. A recent study estimates that 22.6 million people could die as a result of both European and US funding cuts. In particular, the Global Fund continues to fund programs the US has aggressively defunded, such as biomedical and structural prevention interventions targeting criminalized and marginalized groups at much greater risk of HIV infection, such as sex workers, transgender people, people who use drugs, and lgbtq people. Trump has also eliminated prevention programs focused on women and girls, such as gender-based violence prevention programs and funding to help girls stay in school, both of which have demonstrable HIV prevention effects. The Global Fund, by contrast, has not eliminated such interventions.
Contact for more information: Asia Russell (in Rio de Janeiro) +1 267 475 2645 | asia@healthgap.org
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