Public healthcare will up efforts to prevent 'crisis' if US withdraws HIV/Aids funding: Govt

CAPE TOWN - Government said public healthcare facilities would step up efforts to prevent a "crisis" if the United States (US) withdraws its foreign aid.

Donald Trump has threatened to cut off the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

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PEPFAR accounts for about R8 billion of the country's R45 billion annual budget set aside to tackle HIV/AIDS. 

Speaking on the sidelines of the State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Thursday, Deputy Minister of Women, Youth, and Persons with Disabilities Steve Letsike said much of the PEPFAR funding went towards NGOs.  

"The services in the public sector are already receiving much more needed effort directed to people living with HIV because we know they are overcrowded, we know that our health workers are overworked, and the technical support that was provided by NGOs through health professionals was augmenting and supplementing what government was already doing. We are not going to have a crisis in terms of treatment adherence."