Call for private sector to help bridge missing 17 percent gap after US funding freeze

JOHANNESBURG - Following the withdrawal of lifesaving foreign aid by the US, the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Regional Director, Anne Githuku-Shongwe is calling on the private sector to help bridge the missing 17 percent gap.

Githuku-Shongwe was speaking at the launch of a 1.1 Million HIV Treatment Gap campaign in Soweto on Tuesday.

READ: No back-up plan yet for potential loss of health care aid from US, says Treasury

She said the private sector's contribution toward HIV response in the country currently sits at two percent.

Githuku-Shongwe said that if the sector were to add 10 percent more funding, it would make a big difference.

"So, it is a challenge to you as the private sector. You hold the employees. You hold a lot of the provision of the drugs, of the opportunities that we need from the health sector.  So let's see how the mobilisation can happen. As you did during the Covid, you mobilised the Solidarity Fund, an incredible programme.  I am sure that you would have a Solidarity Fund against HIV."