A month after stop-work order, Uganda’s HIV response in chaos

On Feb. 10, two weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump froze all U.S. foreign aid spending, Maria Nakyeyune went to refill her HIV treatment. The 33-year-old Ugandan was diagnosed with HIV in 2017 and started taking the daily pills three years later. Her infection is no longer detectable.

Nakyeyune normally receives a six-month supply of medicine from a clinic outside Masaka, a bucolic town that catches the breeze from nearby Lake Victoria. At first, it was unclear to her why the pharmacist only handed over enough pills for two months. A counselor explained Trump’s order had stalled the delivery of new supplies. The clinic was under instructions to ration what remained of the lifesaving treatment.

Nakyeyune left the center fearing it would be her last refill of antiretrovirals, or ARVs. If it is, she knows what will follow. Decades ago, her mother had been unable to access treatment after she became infected with HIV. The virus debilitated her immune system, leaving her vulnerable to the horrific infections that eventually killed her.