Trump’s 90-day foreign aid freeze has left many South Africans without essential HIV treatment, affecting a quarter of global casesVulnerable groups, including transgender individuals, struggle to find alternative healthcare as USAID-funded clinics shut downCivil society groups warn that nearly a million patients are at risk, urging the South African government to address the escalating health emergency
On the day he was sworn in for a second term as U.S. president, Donald Trump signed an executive order freezing foreign aid for 90 days.
The decision has had immediate and devastating consequences for South Africa, home to one of the world’s worst HIV/AIDS epidemics.
People living with HIV/AIDS in South Africa are uncertain after Donald Trump stopped foreign aid.
Photo credit: Chip Somodevilla
Source: Getty Images
The country has at least 8.5 million people living with the virus—representing a quarter of global cases, AP News reported.
Widespread, free access to antiretroviral treatment in southern Africa was propelled by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), introduced in 2003 by George W. Bush.
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PEPFAR is considered one of the most successful foreign aid programs in history, with South Africa being its largest recipient.
However, with the aid freeze, many vulnerable populations now find themselves without essential healthcare.
Patients left in despair
Outside a shuttered USAID-funded sexual health clinic in Johannesburg’s inner city, a woman looks around in confusion. Security guards inform her that the clinic has closed, Sky News reported.
Her voice quivers as she explains that it has only been two months since she last received care there.
Now, she must search for another safe facility to access her routine sexual health screenings and Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), her primary defense against HIV.
An HIV-positive s*x worker, who shared her patient transfer letter with Sky News, says she is still waiting to be registered at an alternative facility.
“That time, there was no medication. The government would tell us to take beetroot and garlic. It was very difficult for the government to give us treatment, but we fought very hard to win this battle.
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“Now, the challenge is that we are going back to the struggle,” says Nelly Zulu, an activist and mother living with HIV in Soweto.
Nelly credits free treatment for saving her and her 21-year-old son, who was diagnosed with HIV at four years old
“It helped me so much because if I didn’t get the treatment, I don’t think I would be alive—even my son. My concern is for pregnant women. I don’t want them to go through what I went through. I’m scared we will go back to that crisis.”
Activists sound the alarm
South African civil society organizations have issued a joint open letter urging the government to respond to the healthcare emergency created by the U.S. foreign aid freeze.
The letter warns that nearly one million HIV-positive patients have been directly affected by stop-work orders.
It also highlights a waiver by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio that permits continued life-saving assistance, but explicitly excludes “activities that involve abortions, family planning, gender or diversity, equality and inclusion ideology programs, transgender surgeries or other non-life-saving assistance.”
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A sexual health clinic in Johannesburg’s central business district (CBD) has already shut its doors due to these restrictions.
The facility, built by the University of the Witwatersrand, was designed to research reproductive health and serve vulnerable communities, including s*x workers and LGBTQ+ individuals.
South Africa: Uncertainty, fear, depression spread
Ambrose, a healthcare worker and activist at a transgender clinic, said:
“Corner to corner, you hear people talking about this. There are people living with chronic diseases who don’t have faith anymore because they don’t know where they are ending up.
“People keep asking—‘why don’t you go here, why don’t you go there?’ People are crying; they want to be assisted.”
While South Africa’s Ministry of Health insists that only 17% of all HIV/AIDS funding comes from PEPFAR, the freeze has already caused widespread disruption.
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Previously, Henzodaily.ng reported that in a related story reported by Henzodaily.ng, a man said the shutdown of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) would negatively affect Africa.
According to the man, USAID had helped save millions of lives through its interventionist programs in many countries. President Donald Trump, through the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, (DOGE) froze funding for USAID.
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Source: Henzodaily.ng