CAPE TOWN, May 15 (Xinhua) -- South African Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has dismissed concerns that the country's HIV/AIDS program is on the verge of collapse following the withdrawal of U.S. funding.
Briefing the media on Thursday, Motsoaledi stressed that South Africa is taking decisive steps to maintain HIV treatment and prevention programs.
"Today, we are spending a whopping 46.8 billion South African rands (about 2.59 U.S. dollars), of which 7.9 billion rands is from the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The money that (U.S.) President Donald Trump has announced that he is withdrawing," said Motsoaledi.
"Now, it is inconsiderable that out of 46.8 billion rands spent by the country on the HIV/AIDS program, the withdrawal of 7.9 billion rands by President Trump will immediately lead to a collapse of the entire program," he said.
However, according to the minister, since the PEPFAR cuts, the South African government has launched a comprehensive strategy to bridge the funding gap and continue critical healthcare services. It has since secured alternative funding sources, including support of one billion rand from the Global Fund.
"It's wrong to say the campaign of the HIV/AIDS program in South Africa is collapsing, because it's not," Motsoaledi said. "We must make it categorically clear that under no circumstances will we allow this massive work performed over a period of more than a decade and a half to collapse and go up in smoke because President Trump has decided to do what he has done."
Motsoaledi admitted that 8,061 workers employed in PEPFAR-funded HIV/AIDS programs have now lost their jobs, while 7,478 workers funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention remain employed, at least until September this year.
He further mentioned that the government has already trained over 1,000 clinicians and over 2,300 non-clinicians in seven provinces. "We still have a workforce of 263,364 healthcare workers working on HIV/AIDS programs in this previously PEPFAR-funded district," he added.
Motsoaledi also noted that when PEPFAR-funded clinics were closed, patient files were transferred to the nearest public health facilities. "We can confirm today that all 63,322 files belonging to these key populations were moved to public health facilities," he said. ■
