14 May 2025
HIV activists from the Global HIV Treatment Coalition interrupted the Portfolio Committee on Health on Wednesday, calling for a response to a letter they wrote to address cuts to HIV funding cuts.
This comes after the withdrawal of funding from the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which has led to many clinics closing down, health staff retrenched, and people struggling to access HIV health services.
The letter requested an urgent meeting on the crisis, an immediate response to fund existing programmes, particularly overburdened facilities, and to make health jobs more sustainable over the next few years.
Activists who disrupted the meeting were escorted out by security. HIV activist Zackie Achmat said: “The question is: Is government serious? … We want an emergency plan to deal with sex workers, PrEP [Pre-exposure prophylaxis to prevent HIV infection] not being given out, to ensure that trans people get their treatment, to ensure that within communities the queues that are becoming longer can be cut again.”
Lindiwe Mvandaba from the Global HIV Treatment Coalition, who takes antiretroviral medicines, said that the clinic she attends in Crossroads, Nyanga, was facing staff cuts and she was concerned about the future of access to her medicines.
The Portfolio Committee on Health, chaired by Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo, was sent a request for comment which was not received by the time of publication. But GroundUp has been informed that Dhlomo has agreed to a meeting with the activists.