US to stop funding HIV programmes in South Africa
The US government has announced that it will stop funding programs aimed at combating the spread of HIV and AIDS in South Africa.
More than eight million South Africans are living with HIV; this is the highest number of any country in the world.
The US State Department appeared to link the decision to South Africa’s failure to protect its white minority Afrikaner community; It’s a claim the South African government has repeatedly denied.
South Africa’s health ministry responded by saying it had “been working on a self-sufficiency plan for a long time”, although it was not informed of this decision.
The US was supporting South Africa’s efforts to deal with the virus with an estimated $400 million (£300 million) a year through the President’s Aids Relief Emergency Fund (Pepfar) until 2025.
However, relations between the two countries have gradually deteriorated since President Donald Trump took office.
Shortly after taking office, Trump issues executive order He claimed that “numerous” South African policies eliminated equality of opportunity and fueled violence “against racially disadvantaged landowners”.
This is disputed by the South African government, which says a Black Economic Empowerment policy is necessary to correct economic inequality from the Apartheid era.
The executive order also emphasized South Africa’s lawsuit against Israel at the International Court of Justice and its connections with Iran.
The White House said no further aid would be provided to South Africa because of these “unfair and immoral practices.”
Trump also claimed that a “white genocide” was taking place in South Africa, leading the administration to create a refugee program for Afrikaners, descendants of Western Europeans who settled in South Africa in the 17th century. They are just now Only refugees allowed to enter the US.
The genocide claim has been widely discredited.
The Pepfar fund, which provides about one-fifth of South Africa’s total spending on HIV programs, was postponed for a while last October with the so-called “bridge plan”.
However, a US State Department official confirmed that the “phasing out” of Pepfar funding would now begin.
The official said this was because “South Africa has failed to make demonstrable progress on the administration’s policy demands.”
They added that the US government’s goal was to “promote self-reliance” and reduce dependence on American funds, noting that “South Africa is a middle-income country and is well beyond its capacity to support its own health programs.”
South Africa’s health ministry said that while Pepfar contributed to the country’s HIV programme, the provision of life-saving antiretroviral drugs was financed entirely separately, with most coming from the government.
Attempts to improve US-South Africa relations have failed. One of these High-profile White House meeting between Trump and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa a little over a year ago, when the US president confronted his counterpart with allegations of persecution of whites.
The USA also boycotted the G20 meetingA meeting of the world’s leading economies hosted by South Africa last November.
Additional reporting by Pumza Fihlani in Johannesburg
[Getty Images/BBC]
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