POSITION PAPER
Impact of U.S. Foreign Aid Freeze on HIV services in South Sudan
On behalf of the network of People Living and affected by HIV in south Sudan, I would like to bring to your attention that the recent 90-day suspension of U.S. foreign aid, initiated by the Trump administration, poses a significant threat to the health and well-being of People Living with HIV (PLHIV) in South Sudan. This funding freeze affects critical programs supported by the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and USAID, which has been instrumental in providing life-saving antiretroviral therapy (ART) and related services across the country. Although our treatment come with support from Global fund through UNDP, but the biggest donor is PEPFAR.
South Sudan, with an estimate of nearly 200,000 individuals living with HIV, relies heavily on international assistance to manage and curb the epidemic. PEPFAR’s contributions have been pivotal in ensuring access to treatment, prevention, and care services. The abrupt halt in funding jeopardizes these essential services, threaten to reverse years of progress made in the fight against the HIV epidemic. And potentially leading to:
- Disruption of access to life-saving medications, leading to potential health crisis for those dependent on continuous treatment. Inconsistent use of ARVs can result in drug resistance and increased new HIV transmission rates, TB and other sexual transmitted infections such as Hepatitis among others.
- Threats to Prevention Programs, Prevention efforts, including awareness campaigns, condom distribution, access to PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) and Pep (Post exposure prophylaxis) to the key and vulnerable population such as IDPs, Refugees among others. Scaling back these initiatives will likely result in higher rates of new HIV infections in the country.
With support from USIAD, we were providing essential support for children Living with and affected by HIV, particularly in high-prevalence town like Juba, this support includes nutritional support, educational and psychosocial support which is key to their wellbeing. While Secretary of State Marco Rubio has issued a waiver for “lifesaving” aid, the implementation details of the Orphan and Vulnerable Children (OVC) remains unclear
As I deliberate now, most of these children living with and affected by HIV are not going to school, lack emotional support which may result in mental catastrophe, this is the most worrying situation because they are the future leaders.
Within this short time of the stop work order, 1,500 PLHIV missed appointments and drugs, as the result, they are Interrupted In Treatment (IIT). Similarly, the Community Outreach Workers (COWs) who were delivering ARVs, collect viral load sample and providing continuous adherence counseling in the community as far as 25 kilometers from the ART centers have been laid off. Should this freeze continue, the viral load of our clients will rise leading to AIDS and possibly premature death among others.
For this reason, we urge the policymakers to reconsider these funding freeze and prioritize investments in HIV care, treatment, prevention and OVC programs. Sustained support is critical to safeguarding the health of millions and maintaining the progress achieved over the past decades. In this country where healthcare infrastructure is fragile, the aid freeze exacerbates existing challenges in delivering HIV services
As the network of People Living with HIV in South Sudan, we belief this is a call to our government and an eye opener to not depend only on foreign Aids. We therefore urge our government to:
- Take immediate action in filling the gap left by the freeze on foreign Aids
- Inject more domestic fund to strengthen fight against HIV epidemic
- Take full control of the lives of the citizens
- Improve health centers providing full treatment packages to its citizens (taxpayers)
- Improve condition of Living of the citizens
- Improves all road networks to the states and grassroot level to facilitate easy movement of medicines and food items.
We strongly belief we have enough resources to do all these without any foreign Aids. Health is wealth to the country.
Yours Truly,
Mama Evelyn Letio Unzi Boki,
Executive Director-NEPWU.
