South Africa does not plan to replace US HIV funds yet, minister says
Pretoria: South Africa's Health Minister
Aaron Motsoaledi
said on Thursday that the government had not secured any new funding yet for HIV after the U.S. cut aid, and denied reports that its HIV programme was badly affected.
The United States' global HIV initiative, PEPFAR, was paying for about 17 per cent of South Africa's HIV budget until President Donald Trump slashed aid shortly after taking office.
Reuters reported on Wednesday that
HIV viral load testing
had already fallen significantly across South Africa since the funding cut, which experts said was a clear sign that the health system was under strain.
Motsoaledi acknowledged there were some problems but said it was inconceivable that South Africa's HIV programme could collapse and accused the media of spreading a negative message.
"If the tests have gone down ... we will try to correct it, but we do not think it is a train smash," he said.
Once the global epicentre of the
HIV/AIDS crisis
, South Africa has made huge strides in reducing cases and deaths in the last 20 years. But it still has the world's highest burden of HIV, with one in five adults living with the virus.
The U.S. funding paid the salaries of more than 15,000 health workers, about 8,000 of whom have now lost their jobs, said Motsoaledi.
"I'm not going to stand here in front of you and claim that we have got any plan for the 8,000 people beyond just speaking to funders and our own Treasury, which still have not yet responded on what's going to happen," he told reporters.
His comments angered many people who work in the health sector, who have said for weeks that the government was not taking the funding loss seriously enough.
HIV activists interrupted a parliamentary session in Cape Town on Wednesday in protest, demanding that the state put in place an emergency plan.
"The health minister is in denial, and once again, South Africa will have to deal with the harmful public health consequences of not just the Trump administration, but also our own government's failure to plan adequately for months now," said Fatima Hassan, founder of the Health Justice Initiative, a South African NGO.
($1 = 18.1826 rand)
(Additional reporting by Sfundo Parakozov; Editing by Louise Heavens)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
India Today
21 hours ago
- India Today
Indian team uncovers how the immune system brakes when viruses team up
In a new study, a team of researchers at Ashoka University have discovered that fast-acting pathogens — the kind that grow quickly and kill rapidly — may significantly slow down how hosts, including animals and possibly humans, evolve to fight infections when more than one disease strikes at where multiple germs or viruses infect a person or animal at the same time, are more common than previously thought and affect over one-sixth of the global infections are known to worsen health outcomes and complicate treatment. Yet, most biomedical research continues to focus on single infections, leaving critical questions unanswered: How do coinfections influence the evolution of immune systems? And how do different pathogens shape that process? It could also help explain why developing vaccines or treatments for such complex scenarios remains a challenge. (Photo: Getty) To find answers, researchers turned to a small model insect, the red flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum), and exposed it to two very different bacteria: one that grew and killed slowly, and another that spread rapidly and was combining lab experiments and computer modeling, they tracked how the beetles evolved resistance over results were striking. While the beetles quickly developed better survival rates against the slow-growing bacteria, their adaptation was delayed when both pathogens were present — mirroring the slow response seen when only the fast-killing germ was genetic analysis revealed why: the immune system struggled to adjust to fast-acting like the activation of a key enzyme called phenoloxidase, while helpful, were also costly and came with side effects, making further immune tuning difficult.'This study shows that it's not just the presence of multiple infections, but the nature of each pathogen that shapes how an organism adapts,' said the researchers. These infections are known to worsen health outcomes. (Photo: Getty) The findings, published in journal PNAS, offer important insights into how diseases might evolve in humans and other animals, especially in areas where coinfections — like malaria with HIV or tuberculosis — are could also help explain why developing vaccines or treatments for such complex scenarios remains a understanding how different pathogens interact inside a host may be key to designing better therapies and public health strategies in a world where coinfections are the norm, not the Watch
Hindustan Times
a day ago
- Hindustan Times
Punjab's Covid count touches 35, Ludhiana worst affected
Punjab's Covid cases have jumped to 35, from 12, in the last seven days, with Ludhiana being the worst hit, as per data from the health department. Of these, nine cases have surfaced in the last 24 hours, health officials said. Poll-bound Ludhiana has reported 23 cases, the highest in the state. The district has also logged two deaths – a 69-year-old woman who died at Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research last week and a 39-year-old man who had died at Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, Chandigarh, the week before that. The remaining cases are in Jalandhar (6), Mohali (4) and Ferozepur (2). Experts said the surge in political activities ahead of the Ludhiana West bypoll, scheduled for June 19, seems to have increased the spread of the virus in the district. A senior health official, pleading anonymity, said, 'All cases reported so far had only mild symptoms so there is no need for people to panic. The two people who died of Covid-19 suffered from comorbidities. We are closely monitoring the situation.' The official further said they will be releasing a health advisory on Covid-19 in the next 24 hours. 'We will be soon advising the elderly and immunocompromised to take precautions for Covid. There will be no directions against mass gatherings as the new Covid variants are very mild,' said the officials. District epidemiologist Dr Sumeet Singh said cancer patients on chemotherapy, HIV positive patients, renal patients on dialysis and cardiac patients should start taking precautions such as wearing face masks and sanitising their hands. He also advised immunocompromised persons to avoid non-essential travel to crowded places.
&w=3840&q=100)
First Post
a day ago
- First Post
Gaza: Four killed, others injured in shooting near aid distribution point
The Israeli military said in a statement that troops had opened fire in southern Gaza but said that it had directed warning shots at a group that was moving towards soldiers and deemed a threat to them read more Trucks loaded with aid drive on the Israel-Gaza border as they make their way into Gaza, as seen from Israel. Reuters Four people were killed and others injured by Israeli forces on Sunday as Palestinians making their way towards an aid distribution site in the southern Gaza Strip came under fire, according to Palestinian paramedics. It was the latest deadly incident near sites run by the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Palestinians have described areas around the sites as chaotic and dangerous, with dozens of fatal shootings over the past week. The Israeli military said in a statement that troops had opened fire in southern Gaza but said that it had directed warning shots at a group that was moving towards soldiers and deemed a threat to them. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Palestinian paramedics said they had evacuated the bodies of four people who were killed early on Sunday near an aid distribution venue in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Media affiliated with Gaza's dominant Hamas militant group reported that the Israeli military had opened fire near a distribution site in Rafah operated by the GHF. The Israeli military statement said the people towards whom warning shots were fired before dawn on Sunday had been verbally warned to leave the area, which was considered an active military zone at the time. The military has said people should only move to and from the GHF distribution centres between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., with non-daylight hours considered a closed military period. The Palestinian Health Ministry said that at least 104 people were killed over the past 24 hours, including five near aid hubs in southern and central Gaza. It did not specify how all 104 had been killed or exactly where. Sanaa Doghmah said her husband, Khaled, 36, was fatally shot in the head while trying to reach a distribution site in Rafah to collect food for their five children. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'He was going to get food for his children and himself, to make them live, feed them because they don't have a pinch of flour at home,' Khaled's aunt, Salwah, said at his funeral. Hamas-led Palestinian factions said in a statement the new aid distribution sites had 'turned into death traps' and called for the aid to be distributed through U.N.-affiliated agencies. The GHF, which is providing aid under an Israeli initiative that is bypassing traditional relief agencies who say their deliveries into Israeli-blockaded Gaza have been restricted, said it had handed out 1.15 million meals across three sites in southern and central Gaza without incident on Sunday. Truckloads of food The U.S.-based organisation said it was also piloting a direct-to-community model, delivering 11 truckloads of food to community leaders for distribution in areas north of Rafah. 'We are continuing to adapt and improve our operations to ensure the safety of the Palestinian people we aim to serve," interim GHF Executive Director John Acree said in a statement. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD GHF had handed out no aid on Saturday, accusing Hamas of making threats that 'made it impossible' to operate in the enclave, which the Islamist group denied. The GHF uses private American military contractors to operate its sites and has been accused of a lack of neutrality and independence by U.N. and other international humanitarian agencies. It has denied such accusations. Israel relented to international pressure to allow limited U.N.-led operations to resume on May 19 after an 11-week blockade in the enclave of 2.3 million people where malnutrition has become widespread. The U.N. has described aid let in so far as a 'drop in the ocean.' While the GHF has said there have been no incidents at its distribution points set up in late May, Palestinians seeking aid have described scenes of disorder and access routes to the sites have been beset by deadly violence. Dozens of Palestinians were killed near GHF sites on June 1-3, Gaza health authorities said. Israel's military has said it was investigating the incidents but that warning shots were fired in each incident. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The war erupted after Hamas-led militants took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack, Israel's single deadliest day. Israel's military campaign has since killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to health authorities in Gaza, and flattened much of the heavily built-up coastal territory.
