By Rorisang Modiba
- Trump stops billions in US aid money to SA, putting HIV treatment for millions at risk.
- Local health workers lose jobs as clinics and counselling services are forced to close doors.
President Donald Trump has stopped all US aid money to other countries, leaving South Africa’s HIV treatment programme in crisis.
The aid cut, which Trump signed on 20 January, puts R63.3 billion of healthcare funding at risk. This money helps millions of South Africans get their HIV medicine.
Many health workers have already lost their jobs. At LifeLine, which helps people with HIV counselling and suicide prevention, more than 20 workers were told to stop work for three months.
LifeLine director Colleen Rogers said the cut has left staff in desperate times.
“It is devastating. Everybody had to stop debit orders, school fees and whatever accounts they had. We have had no notice of this,” she said, News24 reported.
“All these people are not going to be earning any money for three months. What’s going to become of them and their families? We don’t know whether the jobs are coming back or not.”
The cuts hit hardest at PEPFAR, a US programme that provides life-saving HIV treatment to millions of South Africans.
Wits University has also had to stop some of its HIV and reproductive health projects that relied on US funding.
The health department says it is trying to work out how bad things will get.
Spokesperson Foster Mohale said: “We are aware of several organisations that are funded directly and indirectly by PEPFAR and USAID and have been urged to suspend the implementation of their activities across the country.
“The department will assess the impact of the pause and communicate the implications and mitigating plan at the right time.”
He added: “First, some of the organisations are the implementing agents of the main funding recipients—subcontractors, in simple terms. Second, it is not clear how long this pause will last.”
Pictured above: Donald Trump.
Source: File