As he does every three months, Shibsisso travels to the clinic of Eswatini, a small nation in southern Africa, and has reinforced the HIV drugs he needs to save his life. Ta. When he arrived, the door was locked, and about 20 other patients were confused that the clinic was closed.
Unemployed at the age of 39, hearing rumors that President Trump was funding for a program that supports his treatment. But now he has learned the reality. The Trump administration has suspended the President’s emergency plan for AIDS rescue, one of the most consequent aid programs in the United States in Africa.
It is believed that the sudden suspension of the $ 6.5 billion program established by former President George W. Bush has saved tens of millions of people’s lives. The person has panicked. Many were afraid that HIV spread rapidly and the diagnosis would return to some of the darkest days on the continent, which resembled the death penalty.
When Shibushiso was standing outside the clinic, he feared that he would be next. He was taking the end of his antiretrovirus drug that morning. He announced that the Trump administration had returned, but on Tuesday that it could continue to distribute lifesaving and treatment, but the clinic remained closed in confusion.
Standing outside did not know when and where and where to get more medicine.
“I’m thinking of dying now,” said Shibusiso. He demanded only his name to protect his privacy. “What are you going to do without this treatment?”
The Trump administration has stated that the foreign aid program will be suspended for three months to review how money is being used. According to the survey, if the administration has decided to end the Pepfar, South Africa alone may cause 600,000 deaths in the next 10 years.
“The next 90 days will look very dystopia,” said Nojizwe Nuzssan, the highest executive of Botwana’s major gay advocacy organizations.
Fear and uncertainty are obvious in South Africa and other countries in the region. Some African leaders shared optimism and excitement in the second Trump term. But now one of his first movements seemed to be dangerous.
“I’m scared,” said a 19 -year -old South African college student born in HIV, “People will die, returned to the 1990s, when people did not have sufficient medicine to treat illness. “
Students who demanded anonymity to protect her privacy said that the clinic she went to Johannesburg provided three months of her antiretrovirus drug on Wednesday, not the usual six months. I said. The authorities said they would like to book inventory in case of lack of other clinics.
Pepfar does not provide drugs to South African medical systems, but employs about 13,000 medical experts, from doctors to local medical professionals. People confirm that people are tested and seek appropriate treatment. According to healthcare defenders, all of these employees were ordered to stop working after the Trump administration has frozen foreign aid programs.
According to the shortage of staff, medical workers and rights organizations, a much larger crowd was born in South African public clinics. About 8 million people live with HIV, and 5.7 million people are being treated.
Many clinics remained closed on Wednesday in the frozen turmoil and the retreat of the Trump administration.
Supporters said some patients had to wait for 10 hours for treatment. There was also a concern that if there was no counselor who talked to the counselor, especially HIV and the newly diagnosed patients would not properly administer treatment or seek help in the future.
“We are not responsible for sudden suspension,” said Solange Baptiste, an executive director of the International Treatment Association, an organization that works to improve the treatment of HIV people.
South Africa is better than many other African countries. The government is directly procured most of HIV drugs and depends on Pepfar for about 17 % of the total HIV treatment budget.
Nearby Botwana, which has been assisting nearly $ 72 million since 2003, has also purchased its own treatments, but the suspension of work and funds is heavy on local organizations.
Stanley Monagen said he cried when he learned about the Trump administration’s order. 78 -year -old Monagen has been operating an organization in Morepolor, southern Botsuhana since 2005. He said that it provided support to HIV children and mainly rely on Pepfer’s funds.
Monagen said he had been worried for a week for a week that he was not allowed to provide an orphan a dozens of children and many children who rely on his organization to provide orphans. Monagen himself has lived with HIV for 25 years and has benefited from Pep Farplogram.
“I asked myself,” How do these orphans survive? He said on Wednesday from the three bedroom house used in the center on Wednesday. I have survived.
At HealthPlus 4 Men, a clinic closed in Eswatini on Wednesday, the authorities encouraged uneasy patients to go to public hospitals to seek medicine. But most patients were unpleasant to their options.
HealthPlus mainly deals with gay men. Gay men have been historically accused of Eswatini. Many patients are afraid of going to the government’s operated facilities, and are worried about facing discrimination there. According to HealthPlus’s executive director Sibusiso Maziya, public hospitals often provide prescriptions that many patients can afford.
“It’s a sad moment for us,” said Magia. “They want to know when this situation will change and when to open.”
Despite the exemptions issued by the US government on Tuesday, Magia continues to submit an antiretrovirus that has supplied the pepper funds to clarify the providers of the providers of the authority. He said he was.
HealthPlus’s operation manager, Msizi Mkhabela, added that this organization promotes diversity, fairness, and package by supporting the equal treatment of homosexuals. The mission can violate the freezing of the Trump administration for such a program, and may be more risky to repay the clinic forever.
In addition to drug therapy, HealthPlus also has a mobile clinic and an outreach program, confirming that people living in rural areas are tested and HIV treatment, and these programs prevent these programs from spreading. It is regarded as an important part of effort. However, the funds were from Pep fur, and all of them were pending because they were not sure what HealthPlus was allowed to continue.
“We are literally trembling and worried,” said Mukabella. “I was very frustrated.”
The report was contributed by Evonne Mooka from Botwana’s Molopolor, Lindsey Tutel From London Golden Matonga From Malawui’s Blanchaia.