The impact of the Trump administrations slashing of over half of South Africas HIV and TB projects funded by the US government, transcends reduced access to HIV testing and HIV prevention and treatment drugs.
The diagnoses and treatment of noncommunicable diseases NCDs such as diabetes, high blood pressure, cervical cancer, depression and anxiety will become harder to come by too.
We break down five ways in which HIV funding cuts are making NCDs harder to pick up.
In todays newsletter , Zano Kunene unpacks 5 ways the Trump Administration is hurting the management of noncommunicable diseases NCDs. Sign up for our newsletter today.
The impact of US President Donald Trump administrations slashing of over half of South Africas HIV and TB projects, transcends reduced access to HIV testing and HIV prevention and treatment drugs: treatment for noncommunicable diseases NCDs will become harder to come by too.
As government clinics take on HIV patients who were previously treated by Pepfar-funded projects, the treatment of diseases like diabetes and heart disease for all people will come under pressure.
And mental health issues such as depression and anxiety also noncommunicable illnesses will most likely become more common among people with HIV, because many now face extra stress, such as having to travel further to clinics for treatment and groups like such sex workers increasingly face discrimination at government clinics.
At a Bhekisisa and Southern African HIV Clinicians Society webinar in May, the health advocacy organisation, Treatment Action Campaign TAC and the sex worker movement, Sisonke , for example, reported cases where sex workers who used to get their treatment from US government-funded clinics where health workers were trained to address their reproductive health needs have recently been turned away from state clinics or were denied condoms.