Zimbabwe records slight rise in HIV/AIDS deaths amidst funding concerns
HARARE – Zimbabwe has reported a marginal increase in HIV/AIDS-related deaths during the first half of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, raising questions about the sustainability of the country’s HIV response in the face of shifting donor funding.
According to statistics provided by the Minister of Health and Child Care, Douglas Mombeshora, 5,932 people died from HIV/AIDS between January and June 2025. This figure represents an increase of 220 deaths compared to the 5,712 recorded during the first half of 2024.
“My response to question number 9 is that the AIDS deaths in 2024 from January to June were 5 712. For the same period, January to June in 2025, there were 5 932. This means that in 2025, there were 220 more deaths as compared to 2024 over the same period,” the Minister stated.
The slight increment prompted a question from Corban Madzivanyika, who inquired whether this rise was indicative of an increased burden on the healthcare system following the withdrawal of funding by development partners for HIV and AIDS-related programmes.
Mombeshora, however, dismissed the direct link between the minor increase in deaths and the withdrawal of donor funds.
He stated that commodities for HIV/AIDS had already been procured for the period of January to June and that programs were progressing well.
He further assured Parliament that there are sufficient medicines to last until the end of September 2025, with ongoing procurement processes to cover needs until the end of the year.
“I would not want to attribute this small difference to the withdrawal of funds from our partners,” Mombeshora stated.
“From January to June, the commodities for HIV/AIDS had already been procured and the programmes have been progressing well. I think I have said this before in this Parliament that all patients on HIV treatment should not panic because we have enough medicines for them.
“I cannot actually give a specific reason now to say why we have these figures.
“Usually, we wait until the end of the year. You may find that maybe by the end of the year, we may have less figures for this year than last year.
“At the end of the year, that is when we start looking at month by month and try to see where we have missed it or find the reasons why the figures are going up but at the moment, it is not related to the withdrawal because the commodities are there. I present.”
Zimbabwe has historically relied heavily on international donor funding for its HIV response, with organisations like the U.S’s President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS (PEPFAR) and the Global Fund contributing a significant portion of the total expenditure.
Zimbabwe has been receiving over US$200 million annually from PEPFAR. The U.S government has given the Southern African country over US$1.7 billion since 2006 to strengthen health systems and support people living with HIV.
While Zimbabwe has made notable progress in reducing HIV prevalence reducing infection rates, achieving the 95/95/95 targets, concerns have been raised about the long-term sustainability of these gains if external support diminishes.
