Mashatile: SANAC's approached national lottery to plug PEPFAR gap
CAPE TOWN - The South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) has turned to the national lottery to help fill the funding gap left by the United States' withdrawal of funding for HIV/AIDS programmes.
Deputy President Paul Mashatile, who chairs the council, on Thursday told the National Assembly that government was still exploring a range of options, including additional funding from the fiscus.
Answering a question from the Democratic Alliance (DA), Mashatile said that while the provision of life-saving drugs were not at risk, the loss of jobs in this sector was the major concern.
PEPFAR, the US president's emergency plan for aids, accounts for around 17 percent of the country's HIV budget.
That translates into around R8 billion between October last year and September this year.
Mashatile said that government had not yet found a way to plug the shortfall, but SANAC was helping.
"The South African National AIDS Council has approached the National Lotteries Commission and the SANAC Private Sector Forum to garner further funding support. The national lottery has submitted a funding application, which is being considered by its discretionary emergency funding."
Other countries are also being engaged for affordable drugs.
"We are hopeful that all these resource mobilisation efforts will yield positive results."
He said that the minister of science and technology had also established a working group to advise him on the implication of the funding withdrawal, particularly on key research and development programmes.
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