China will provide South Africa with $3.49m (R60m) to expand HIV prevention services for young people and injecting drug users, it announced on Wednesday.
These are key population groups that have been identified for specific interventions in South Africa’s efforts to end HIV/Aids as a public health emergency by 2030.
The funds will be facilitated by UNAids and directed to services for 54,000 students attending 16 technical and vocational educational training (TVET) colleges and 500 drug users in Gauteng. There are 50 TVET colleges in South Africa.
The support from China came at a critical time, given this year’s disruption to global health financing, said health minister Aaron Motsoaledi, referring to the US government’s abrupt reduction in foreign aid.
“It’s a signal of faith in South Africa’s capacity to lead … and protect its most vulnerable [citizens],” he said.
The two-year funding commitment is supported by the China Global Development and South-South Co-operation Fund and follows last year’s agreement between UNAids and China’s International Development Cooperation Agency to increase south-south collaboration on HIV, pandemics and health.
“China stands firmly with South Africa as it strengthens its HIV prevention and treatment programmes,” said China’s ambassador to South Africa, Wu Peng. “In addition to this project, we stand ready to assist South Africa in establishing a sustainable HIV/Aids response system through policy dialogue, innovative drug supply, technology transfer and capacity building,” he said.
While South Africa had made progress in its fight against HIV/Aids, the rate of new infections among adolescents and young people remained a concern, said Motsoaledi.
“I need to be frank: adolescents and young people remain at the centre of our unfinished business,” he said. “They are the barometer of our country’s future health,” he added.
South Africa has committed to the UN’s 95-95-95 targets, which aim to ensure 95% of people living with HIV know their status, 95% of people who have been diagnosed are on treatment and 95% of those on treatment are virally suppressed.
But it is not yet on track to reach these targets for young people or injecting drug users, figures presented by UnAids country director Eva Kiwango show. The numbers stand at 83:68:82 for adolescents and young adults, and 67:80:46 for injecting drug users.
There were about 71,000 new HIV infections among young people last year, and the HIV prevalence in this group was about 6.6%, she said.
Among injecting drug users, HIV prevalence is estimated to be 47.6%. There were an estimated 82,500 injecting drug users in South Africa, she said.
UNAids executive director Winnie Byanyima said China’s investment showed its commitment to multilateralism and advancing south-south co-operation.
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