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HIV medication
The National Health Department has announced a contingency plan to ease the impact of the near collapse of US funded HIV/AIDs projects in the country.
This follows US President Donald Trump’s order, temporarily halting 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 where many organisations which were 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’s two different situations at the moment, those who get the money through USAID they are still closed down, even though they could apply for waivers. I’m not aware of any of them who have restarted.
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.”
Duped into silence: “When the #USAID stop-work order landed in our inboxes, it came with clear instructions: remain silent. No media, no social posts.” More via @miamalan.
— Bhekisisa (@Bhekisisa_MG) February 18, 2025
