In this urgent and wide-ranging conversation, our host Tracy Swan speaks with independent researcher and advisor Els Torreele about the devastating impact of US cuts to global HIV funding and the deeper structural failures of our global health system.

Together, they unpack how decades of reliance on donor-driven models have left low- and middle-income countries vulnerable, facing inequities in pharmaceutical innovation and barriers posed by intellectual property regimes. Tracy and Els explain why it’s time to rethink access as a human right—not a market decision — and why real transformation requires shifting power, technology, and innovation to the Global South.