No funding yet to plug PEPFAR gap, says Godongwana
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana says no funding is currently allocated to close the gap left by the withdrawal of PEPFAR by the United States.
South Africa is one of the countries affected by US President Donald Trump’s decision to slash US foreign aid funding in late January.
The US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) -- among those hit by the funding cuts -- supported numerous programmes focusing on prevention, counselling and monitoring and amounted to 17 per cent of South Africa's overall HIV response.
South Africa has one of the highest TB infections, with an estimated 427 new TB cases per 100,000 people in 2023, with 7.7 million people living with HIV in the same year.
"The spending pressures that may require funding later this year, the withdrawal of the PEPFAR funding, particularly through USAID," Godongwana said during his budget speech in the National Assembly on Wednesday.
"We've not made provision for the allocation for that now. The Department of Health has just given us the numbers a couple of days ago. Once the resources allow, we'll deal with this matter."
The withdrawal of aid is one of the issues that South Africa is expected to raise during Wednesday's discussions with President Trump at the White House.
