PEPFAR withdrawal a 'train smash' for thousands of workers, Motsoaledi tells NCOP

CAPE TOWN - Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi told Parliament that the cutting of US funding for HIV/AIDS was a "train smash" for thousands of workers.

He said that while the withdrawal of the USAID-funded President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) would only affect staffing, it meant that more than 15,000 were now unemployed.

But Motsoaledi assured the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) that South Africa had the capacity to fund its own HIV/AIDS programme and no one would go without antiretrovirals (ARVs).

The health minister said that the cutting of funds would be detrimental for the thousands of healthcare workers employed by the PEPFAR initiative.

"The withdrawal of PEPFAR is definitely a train smash for people who were employed, the 15,315 or so people who have been drawing salaries from this. They are unemployed, that’s a train smash for them."

But he said they’d already made contact with possible funders to replace PEPFAR.

"That’s why we’ve already met so many funders and we are having meetings every day about that. We feel bad for these people."

Motsoaledi assured the NCOP that the funding cut would not affect the country's ARV rollout.