The National Health Department has introduced a contingency plan to mitigate the effects of the near collapse of US-funded HIV/AIDS projects in the country. This follows an order from US President Donald Trump to temporarily halt aid to South Africa.
Under this new plan, one of the key goals is to provide eligible HIV patients with a six-month supply of ARV pills, reducing the frequency of clinic visits to just twice a year. Chief Editor at Bhekisisa Mia Malan says the plan comes at a time when many organizations funded through USAID in the country have closed down.
“You can’t get the money that you get from Pepfar directly if you’re an NGO, it goes through two agencies mainly USAID and CDC. CDC is the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. So, there are two different situations at the moment, those who get the money through USAID are still closed down, even though they could apply for waivers. I’m not aware of any of them who have restarted.
For those who get their money through the CDC, there was a court case that ordered President Trump to allow them to restart their original projects, so they have restarted but it’s for a limited time it’s only a temporary order of the court.”
