US President Donald Trump's decision to permanently shut USAID-funded programmes in SA could have severe consequences for people who rely on the programmes.
Pepfar-funded HIV/Aids organisations and other health projects funded by the US government have been terminated.
Pepfar, the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids, was launched in 2003 to help fight HIV/Aids in countries with high HIV infection rates, including SA. The country has since received about $8bn R147.8bn), of which just more than $400,000 (R7.4bn) was for the current US financial year from October 1 2024 to September 30 2025.
Yvette Raphael from Advocacy for Prevention of HIV and Aids said they were concerned about Trump's decision to stop USAID.
“The Trump administration has declared war on the right to health globally. The government must take this as an opportunity to expedite universal access to healthcare and meet its obligations to our people.”
An HIV clinician, speaking anonymously, who has provided the health department with help in its clinics and hospitals via Pepfar for 17 years, said: “Government has to cease the inaction and their seeming return to the behaviour we saw during the worst years of Aids denialism, where politicians let their own opinions impact hundreds of thousands of lives. This cannot be allowed to happen again.”
TimesLIVE
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