US President Donald Trump’s sweeping cuts to foreign aid not only imperil SA’s response to the HIV/Aids epidemic but raise the troubling prospect of increased migration from neighbouring states.
Trump’s decision to dismantle the agencies that have for decades provided health and humanitarian support to African countries is in itself a catastrophe. But it has been made all the worse by European nations slashing aid budgets as they step up defence spending in response to the war in Ukraine.
The double blow has left fragile health systems reeling and has worsened hunger in regions grappling with the effects of severe drought. When people can’t obtain the medicines they need or find food to feed their families, the rational response is to head to places with more resources. For many individuals who live in SA Development Community (Sadc) nations, that means travelling to SA.
An influx of more people into a country already battling to care for its poorest citizens is a recipe for trouble. We have all too often witnessed the death and destruction wrought by inflammatory rhetoric when politicians blame foreigners for the problems plaguing SA society.
This is a crisis in the making. It is imperative that the government and other Sadc countries craft a joint response to tackle it before lives are lost.
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