Click to expand Image An activist attends a vigil to mark World Aids Day in Jakarta, Indonesia, December 1, 2021. © 2021 Afriadi Hikmal/NurPhoto via AP US foreign aid cuts in 2025 abruptly ended essential community-based HIV prevention and care for LGBT people in Indonesia, who already face discrimination and arbitrary arrest.Dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) eliminated services for people at greatest risk of HIV, creating additional barriers to testing, prevention, and lifesaving treatment.Indonesia and international donors should restore care before more people are pushed out of treatment, more people die from preventable causes, and decades of progress against HIV is lost.(Jakarta) – United States foreign aid cuts in 2025 abruptly ended essential community-based HIV prevention and care for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Indonesia who already face discrimination and arbitrary arrest, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Globally, more than 170,000 additional people are estimated to have died in one year because of the cuts to HIV/AIDS response, which especially affect populations at increased risk of HIV infection.The 33-page report, “‘We Want to Be Treated as Human’: Impact of US Foreign Aid Cuts on HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care in Indonesia,” documents the Trump administration’s dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and finds that it eliminated services for people at greatest risk of HIV, creating additional barriers to testing, prevention, and lifesaving treatment. The Indonesian government and international donors should urgently restore support for community-led HIV/AIDS services. November 11, 2026 “We Want to be Treated as Human” Impact of US Foreign Aid Cuts on HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care in Indonesia Download the full report in English Annex I: Human Rights Watch Letter to the Indonesia Ministry of Health Annex II: Human Rights Watch Letter to the Indonesia Ministry of Home Affairs Annex III: Human Rights Watch Letter to the US Department of State “The Trump administration’s gutting of USAID eliminated services that helped LGBT people in Indonesia get lifesaving services in an environment of stigma, discrimination, and fear,” said Julia Bleckner, senior health researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Indonesia and international donors should restore care before more people are pushed out of treatment, more people die from preventable causes, and decades of progress against HIV is lost.”Human Rights Watch interviewed 35 people living with HIV, outreach workers, activists, academics, aid recipients, and staff of nongovernmental organizations in Jakarta, Depok, and Serang in November 2025 and June 2026, and reviewed budget and policy documents.Human Rights Watch wrote to the US Department of State and to the Indonesian Department of Health and the Ministry of Home Affairs on September 24, 2026, regarding the impact of the cuts, but has received no responses.The US government’s foreign assistance tracking website states that obligated funds for HIV in Indonesia dropped from $11.9 million in fiscal year 2024 to $7.9 million in FY25. These cuts included all USAID-funded community-based prevention and care directed to LGBT populations.Indonesia’s HIV/AIDS epidemic is concentrated among populations that face severe barriers to care due to discrimination and stigma. HIV prevalence is about 0.4 percent among the general population, compared with 22 percent among men who have sex with men and 25 percent among transgender people. Yet the most recent comprehensive spending data show that in 2020 only 0.1 percent of Indonesia’s domestic HIV/AIDS spending went to programs for men who have sex with men, and none went specifically to transgender people. International donors covered 98 percent of HIV programming for these populations, who frequently rely on community-led and outreach services due to the discrimination and stigma they encounter in public health facilities.Outreach workers had distributed condoms and information about preexposure prophylaxis, helped people obtain confidential testing, accompanied clients to clinics, and supported adherence to antiretroviral treatment. They also paid for transportation and tests, advocated for these patients with clinic staff, and trained health workers to provide respectful care. Outreach workers said that since the cuts they had lost contact with clients, that some clients were late collecting medication or missing doses, and that local organizations no longer had the capacity to track new infections and treatment interruptions.“Just leaving the house as a trans person is scary,” said a transgender outreach worker living with HIV. “Without an outreach worker, the person will be alone and they won’t get care.”The loss of services coincided with the Indonesian government's increasing attempts to criminalize and target at-risk groups. Indonesia’s new criminal code, which took effect on January 1, 2026, makes all consensual sex outside heterosexual marriage a criminal offense subject to complaints by close family members, effectively criminalizing same-sex conduct for the first time. Police raid private gatherings and have used possession of condoms and purported HIV medication as evidence of crimes. These practices deter people from carrying prevention supplies, gathering for outreach, testing for HIV, and seeking treatment.Transgender people whose identity documents do not reflect their gender identity may be publicly called by a former name, opening them up to humiliation or discrimination. Outreach workers have accompanied patients, advocated respectful treatment, helped people obtain identification and health insurance, and trained clinic staff. With funding gone, many people must now navigate these obstacles alone.A gay activist living with HIV spoke about the severity of the crisis: “If you are LGBT and living with HIV, it’s the end of the story. You are doomed.”After the US funding cuts, several governments quickly followed with their own. France, Japan, Germany, and others withdrew from financing the HIV/AIDS response. In June, Winnie Byanyima, executive director of the United Nations organization UNAIDS, said of the global funding cuts: “There’s no question that this is the most serious disruption in the HIV response since the world came together to fight this disease.”The Indonesian government should adequately fund HIV prevention and care for men who have sex with men and transgender people, support community-led organizations, ensure consistent supplies of antiretroviral medicines, and train health workers to provide nondiscriminatory care. The government should also repeal discriminatory laws, end unlawful raids targeting LGBT people, stop using possession of condoms and HIV medication as evidence of crimes, investigate and appropriately punish abuses by the police, and protect LGBT people from vigilante violence.The US government should ensure continuity and timely release of funding for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) created in 2003, disclose the impact of terminated programs, and withdraw its “Promoting Human Flourishing in Foreign Assistance Policy,” which restricts work to protect the rights of transgender people and other issues. International donors should increase contributions to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and directly support LGBT-led community organizations responding to HIV in Indonesia.“Indonesia should stop targeting LGBT people and start investing in the community services proven to prevent HIV and keep people in treatment,” Bleckner said. “The United States and other donors should help rebuild these lifelines, not abandon the people who depend on them.”