The cautionary tale of USAID cuts: Resources for HIV treatment and prevention programmes
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
The recent United States Agency for International Development (USAID) cuts have affected South Africa (SA)’s HIV prevention and treatment programmes. The consequences of these cuts affect the lives of millions of people, given the reliance on this foreign aid to supplement government resources for the provision of HIV treatment. The cuts are the result of a changing geopolitical landscape, in which diplomatic relations can be considered unstable. This article contends that the constitutional obligation to realise socioeconomic rights within ‘available resources’ should therefore not necessarily be interpreted as including foreign aid. Given current global politics and the fragility of diplomatic relations, such an interpretation is arguably unreasonable. SA should seek to ensure that its HIV treatment and prevention programmes are self-sufficient, so that provision of treatment for HIV can be consistent and reliable, and lives are not lost due to disruptions in treatment resulting from diplomatic relations.
Article Details
Issue
Section
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
The SAJBL is published under an Attribution-Non Commercial International Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY-NC 4.0) License. Under this license, authors agree to make articles available to users, without permission or fees, for any lawful, non-commercial purpose. Users may read, copy, or re-use published content as long as the author and original place of publication are properly cited.
Exceptions to this license model is allowed for UKRI and research funded by organisations requiring that research be published open-access without embargo, under a CC-BY licence. As per the journals archiving policy, authors are permitted to self-archive the author-accepted manuscript (AAM) in a repository.
How to Cite
References
1. World Health Organization. HIV and AIDS. 22 July 2024. https://www.who.int/ news-room/fact-sheets/detail/hiv-aids (accessed 20 February 2025).
2. Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS). Bold new initiative to put an additional 1.1 million people living with HIV on treatment puts South Africa on the path to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. 25 February 2025. https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/ pressreleaseandstatementarchive/2025/february/20250225_1-1-million-people- treatment-south-africa#:~:text=In%20South%20Africa%2C%20there%20 were,live%20healthy%20and%20productive%20lives (accessed 1 March 2025).
3. The White House. Addressing egregious actions of the Republic of South Africa. 7 February 2025. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential- actions/2025/02/addressing-egregious-actions-of-the-republic-of-south- africa/ (accessed 1 March 2025).
4. Aljazeera. Rubio announces 83 percent of USAID contracts cancelled under Trump. 10 March 2025. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/3/10/rubio- announces-83-percent-of-usaid-contracts-cancelled-under-trump (accessed 14 March 2025).
5. Cullinan K. HIV clinics close across Africa after US issues ‘stop-work order’ to all aid recipients. Health Policy Watch, 28 January 2025. https://healthpolicy- watch.news/hiv-clinics-close-across-africa-after-trump-administration- issues-stop-work-order/ (accessed 1 March 2025).
6. Lay K. US shutdown of HIV/Aids funding ‘could lead to 500,000 deaths in South Africa’. The Guardian, 28 February 2025. https://www.theguardian. com/global-development/2025/feb/28/usaid-funding-health-development- hiv-aids-antiretroviral-mothers-lgbt-sex-workers-south-africa (accessed 1 March 2025).
7. Department: National Treasury, Republic of South Africa. 2025 Budget Speech. 12 March 2025. https://www.treasury.gov.za/documents/ National%20Budget/2025/speech/speech.pdf (accessed 13 March 2025).
8. Quinn M. Judge finds Elon Musk and DOGE’s shutdown of USAID likely unconstitutional. CBS News, updated 19 March 2025. https://www.cbsnews. com/news/judge-finds-doges-usaid-shutdown-likely-unconstitutional/ (accessed 21 March 2025).
9. Minister of Health v Treatment Action Campaign 2002 5 SA 721 (CC).
10. Singer P. One World Now. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016.
11. Brotherton M. The fiction of scarcity: Conceptualising scarcity in terms of
global justice. Doctoral thesis. Grahamstown: Rhodes University, 2022.
https://vital.seals.ac.za/vital/access/manager/Repository/vital:57229?site_ name=GlobalView&view=grid&f0=sm_format%3A%221+online+resource+ %28233+pages%29%22&f1=sm_subject%3A%22Philosophy%22&sort=so rt_ss_sm_creator%5C (accessed 21 March 2025 ).
12. Fisher W, Rigamonti C. The South Africa AIDS controversy: A case study in patent law and policy. Harvard Law School, 2005.
13. World Trade Organization. Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). 1995. https://www.wto.org/english/ docs_e/legal_e/27-trips.pdf (accessed 10 March 2025).
14. World Trade Organization. Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and public health. Adopted on 14 November 2001. https://www.wto.org/english/ thewto_e/minist_e/min01_e/mindecl_trips_e.htm (accessed 10 March 2025).
15. United Nations Economic and Social Council. General Comment No. 3: The Nature of State Parties’ Obligations (Art. 2, Para. 1, of the Covenant). E/C.14/12/90. UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), 14 December 1990. https://www.refworld.org/legal/general/cescr/1990/ en/5613 (accessed 10 March 2025).
16. Liebenberg S. Socio-Economic Rights Adjudication under a Transformative Constitution. Durban: Juta, 2010.
17. Department: International Relations and Cooperation, Republic of South Africa. Speech by Minister Ronald Lamola delivered in Parliament, on the Motion: USA decision to cut USAID funding and the response thereto, on 6 March 2025. https://dirco.gov.za/speech-by-minister-ronald-lamola- delivered-in-parliament-on-the-motion-usa-decision-to-cut-usaid-funding- and-the-response-thereto-on-6-march-2025/ (accessed 8 March 2025).