The suspension of the United States PEPFAR funding to South Africa has raised concern about the impact it has had on local HIV programs. The US Senate has voted against a proposed $400 million (R7 billion) cut to the program. However, questions remain about whether PEPFAR will return to the Republic. There has been specific criticism directed at the national government for not adequately addressing the funding shortfall.
Speaking to VOC News, Professor Francois Venter, clinician researcher at Wits University, argues that more needs to be done by the government, as there is no replacement to ensure the sustainability of HIV programs and that only empty promises have been brought forward by government officials.
“It has been exactly six months since this thing (PEPFAR) was pulled, and we haven’t seen a plan, we haven’t seen anything but a tiny amount of funding materialise, and we have seen support in the provinces. This is why this is so worrying because without PEPFAR coming back, we are going back to 2003/2004, where our hospitals were absolutely overrun with people with AIDS,” said Francois.
Venter further states that the response from the government, in particular the Department of Health and its minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, has been lackadaisical in the face of the objective fact that the HIV programs in the republic are degrading.
“When the minister says, ‘No, don’t worry, we got this,’ and then doesn’t deliver on a plan when we have objective metrics from the National Laboratory saying the program is getting weaker by the month and he turns around and says it’s getting stronger by the month he needs to explain that,” added Venter.
