PEPFAR funding cut to only affect staffing, says Motsoaledi

CAPE TOWN - Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi told Members of Parliament (MPs) that the cutting of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) funding would only affect staffing.

He said the country had the capacity to fund its own AIDS programme from the fiscus and was not entirely reliant on the USAID-funded PEPFAR programme.

Motsoaledi was again responding to questions about the US funding cuts in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) as part of the social services and health cluster.

"The question is how is the PEPFAR funding affecting it? It will affect the staffing, as we have said. South Africa is buying its own ARVs [anti-retrovirals], we are not using PEPFAR money to buy ARVs."

But Motsoaledi said that some African countries would not be so fortunate because they relied on the US for most of their health budgets.

"There are countries on the continent, very unfortunately, where you find that 60% of their total health budget, not even HIV/AIDS, is funded by the US."

ALSO READ: Government waiting for full audit on PEPFAR funded programmes