UNAIDS warns Trump's HIV funding cuts to South Africa could cost lives
UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima told a Cape Town briefing that the Trump administration's PEPFAR cuts to South Africa's HIV/AIDS programmes could result in an additional 196,000 deaths and 350,000 new infections by the end of 2027. Pretoria called the decision « a direct intervention against the lives of children and pregnant women. »
Briefing reporters at UNAIDS' regional headquarters on Tuesday morning, Byanyima said: « if the current cut trajectory holds, we will face 196,000 preventable deaths in South Africa within just three semesters. » PEPFAR's annual 380-million-dollar support funds antiretroviral therapy for 5.2 million South Africans.
US State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said on Tuesday at 21:00 that the cut is « contingent on assessing the country's domestic funding capacity, » and added that existing medication stockpiles will be safeguarded during the process. South African Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said the government has allocated 80 million dollars in emergency funds for vacated treatment financing in 2027.
Wits University health economists calculate the cut will shrink South Africa's national mother-to-child HIV-transmission prevention programme by 47 percent. Médecins Sans Frontières and the Treatment Action Campaign announced they will file litigation in Pretoria; the first hearing is scheduled before the High Court on 9 July.
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