In Mozambique, the health system is overwhelmingly built on US money. When the Trump administration instantly pulled much of this funding without warning, disease and death spread. Spotlight and GroundUp visited one of the worst affected regions to describe the human toll.
US funding for clinical research in South Africa is incrementally being cancelled. This is happening through at least two processes – the first is by banning certain kinds of foreign grants called sub-awards (which is affecting everyone globally). The second is by failing to issue routine renewals of grants for clinical studies in South Africa. Spotlight and GroundUp break down the current situation.
In late-January, the US suspended billions of dollars worth of international aid, including for HIV-related programmes in South Africa. The South African government could have responded by triggering an emergency funding mechanism but has failed to do so yet. In the meantime, activists, health researchers and even technical advisors to government are growing increasingly frustrated with the government’s lack of transparency on this issue.
Top local researchers estimate that the cancellation of funding from the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief could lead to a significant increase in HIV infections and deaths in South Africa. Jesse Copelyn reports.
New research shows a quick-dissolving, rectal suppository designed to prevent HIV infection is safe, although its efficacy remains to be tested in clinical trials, some of which will be conducted in South Africa. Still, the findings released late Tuesday could herald the start of a new “take as needed” era in HIV prevention.
HIV prevention pills are becoming more widely available in South Africa and the country is set to soon start piloting the use of an HIV prevention injection. But merely having these tools available in clinics and other places does not mean people will use them. Thabo Molelekwa asked several experts what behaviour change communications should look like in this new era of HIV prevention.
South Africa is expected to begin piloting the HIV prevention injection early next year as one of several projects that experts hope will reveal the answers to some of the biggest questions about the future of the shot – who will deliver the injection, where, and how to sell people on the idea that just six shots a year could protect them from HIV. Laura Lopez Gonzalez reports.
It is estimated that in 2021, around 0.3% of sexually active people in the Western Cape were taking antiretroviral medicines to prevent HIV infection. This is substantially lower than the national estimate of 1%. Elsabé Brits asks why uptake in the Western Cape is lagging behind most other provinces.
If South Africa wants to strengthen the prevention arm of its HIV programme, which it definitely should, providing comprehensive sex education in schools and training teachers to deliver this curriculum will be vital. It is important that the HIV/AIDS Life Skills Grant, as one of the key pieces of a broader HIV prevention strategy, be supported and strengthened, argue Mbali Baduza and Julia Chaskalson.
