UN report: Debt crisis undermines AIDS eradication in Africa

Zimbabwe was a pioneer of the AIDS levy — a 3% income tax for individuals and 3% tax on profits of employers — in 1999 when it set up the National Aids Council. It's headquarters are shown here in Harare on Sept. 20, 2024. Zimbabwean parliament Speaker Jacob Mudenda addresses his colleagues on Sept. 20, 2024, at Mount Hampden, telling them that the budget of $387 million for HIV programs was no longer enough.

A new report released by the main United Nations agency for action on AIDS and HIV says growing public debt is choking sub-Saharan African countries, leaving them with little fiscal room to finance critical HIV services.