- On 20 January, Donald Trump will be inaugurated as the new US president — for the second time.
- An international HIV expert says a Trump administration will question South Africa’s decades-long partnership with the US government’s Aids fund, Pepfar.
- Since 2003, Pepfar has invested more than R145-billion ($8-billion) in South Africa’s Aids programmes, making the country one of the fund’s largest grantees.
- For this US financial year (October 2024 — September 2025), South Africa’s Pepfar country coordinator, Saira Johnson-Qureshi, says the country received $439 537 828 (R7.9-billion at the current exchange rate) from Pepfar. Some of this money goes directly towards the health department, and the rest to nongovernmental organisations working on HIV issues.
- The health department says SA will also receive over 200 000 doses of the two-monthly anti-HIV jab, CAB-LA, from Pepfar in batches over the course of 2025. About half the doses were originally scheduled to arrive in December this year.
- But Trump will almost certainly cut funding for HIV programmes supporting sex workers, gay and bisexual men, drug users and transgender people, says an expert.
- In this podcast, Mia Malan asks Mitchell Warren, who heads up the New York-based advocacy organisation, Avac, what lies ahead for South Africa’s US-funded HIV programmes after Trump takes over.
In today’s newsletter, Mia Malan asks what the future of South Africa’s US-funded HIV programmes are after Trump takes over. Sign up for our newsletter today.
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Mia Malan is the founder and editor-in-chief of Bhekisisa. She has worked in newsrooms in Johannesburg, Nairobi and Washington, DC, winning more than 30 awards for her radio, print and television work.
Danny Booysen is a freelance audio technical producer and has over 30 years of experience in the broadcast industry.
