US Aid Cuts Ended Community HIV Services for LGBT People in Indonesia, Report Says

On November 11, 2026, Human Rights Watch released a 33-page report saying that US foreign aid cuts in 2025 abruptly ended essential community-based HIV prevention and care for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in Indonesia. The report examines the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development and concludes that the changes removed services for people at the greatest risk of HIV. The group said the cuts landed in a country where LGBT people already face discrimination and arbitrary arrest.

Figures in the report, drawn from a US government foreign assistance tracking website, show that obligated funding for HIV in Indonesia fell from $11.9 million in fiscal year 2024 to $7.9 million in fiscal year 2025. Earlier UNAIDS material from February 2025 estimated about 570,000 people were living with HIV in Indonesia, and that only 31 percent of them were accessing treatment at the time. The UN agency also said that community-led activities funded through USAID had been paused.

Where the Services Reached People

The report describes outreach workers as a crucial link between LGBT people and HIV services. Those workers accompanied patients, helped them obtain identification and health insurance, covered transport and testing costs in some cases, and trained clinic staff to treat patients respectfully. Human Rights Watch based its findings on 35 interviews with people living with HIV, outreach workers, activists, academics, aid recipients and nongovernmental organization staff in Jakarta, Depok and Serang, conducted in November 2025 and June 2026, along with budget and policy documents.

The group wrote to the US State Department and to Indonesia's health and home affairs ministries on September 24, 2026, about the impact of the cuts, and said it had received no responses. Its recommendations call on the Indonesian government to fund HIV prevention and care for gay men, other men who have sex with men and transgender people. The group also urged officials to support community-led organizations, keep antiretroviral medicine supplies steady, train health workers to give nondiscriminatory care and stop targeting LGBT people.

Coverage of the report also includes a different view. A representative of a national network of people living with HIV in Indonesia told a US LGBTQ publication that the aid reductions had not, so far, significantly affected access to antiretroviral therapy, HIV testing or support services. The report, by contrast, focuses on the loss of community-based outreach and prevention work for LGBT people.

What It Means for Health Workers

For health workers, the story shows how donor-funded HIV programs have depended on community outreach and peer support. UNAIDS said in early 2025 that HIV prevention in Indonesia relied heavily on the Global Fund and USAID for these roles. When grants end, the posts, training and referral links tied to them can end with them, which affects the local workforce that delivers HIV services.

For people building careers in community health, outreach, peer support and clinic-based patient guidance are the roles most exposed when programs close. The report suggests that their value lies in trust and access to people who might otherwise avoid testing and treatment, and that trust is difficult to rebuild quickly once services stop.

What to Watch Next

Key questions now are whether the Indonesian government or international donors respond to the report's call with new funding, and whether later US government foreign assistance data show further changes in HIV spending for Indonesia. The available reporting does not say that any government has announced new funding for the programs described. Updates from the report's publisher and from UNAIDS country reporting are likely to be the next indicators.