The recent deep cuts to the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar) funding, a lifeline for SA’s HIV/Aids response, have thrown the country into a healthcare crisis marked by clinic closures, job losses and sharply reduced access to HIV prevention and treatment services.
SA, home to the world’s largest HIV treatment programme, is grappling with the fallout as more than 500,000 people risk losing access to life-saving pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a crucial tool to prevent new infections, especially among vulnerable populations such as adolescent girls and young women.
These cuts have disproportionately hurt women, who are already most affected by HIV and related gender inequities in healthcare. Clinics shutting down and staff layoffs mean increased barriers to treatment and prevention services, putting women and other vulnerable groups in even greater danger. More than 2,000 people were retrenched from the Anova Health Institute, whose primary jobs included tracking, tracing and dispensing ARVs.
With nearly 12,000 jobs affected, Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi’s government has employed only 5,675 community health workers to service all health districts across the province. This is more than a healthcare crisis. It is a crisis of humanity, equity and survival.
The Gauteng provincial government must provide a comprehensive plan, accompanied by a budget, to mitigate funding cuts and protect the vulnerable from the devastating ripple effects of Pepfar’s withdrawal.
Without bold, immediate action the country risks reversing decades of progress in the fight against HIV.
Madeleine Hicklin, MPL
DA Gauteng health spokesperson
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