A TOTAL of 39 TB and HIV clinical research sites in the country are under threat of closing down due to potential funding cuts by the US, placing at least 27 HIV trials and 20 TB trials at risk.
This is according to a recent joint analysis by Treatment Action Group (TAG) and Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the first to be conducted in an effort to map specific trials and clinical research sites related to HIV and TB that are at risk due to the US funding cuts.
It comes just days after Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi attempted to calm fears following a report that funding cuts, particularly from the US, have been cited as the reason behind South Africa’s 21 percent decline in viral load testing.
He assured South Africans that the country’s HIV/Aids programme was not at risk of collapsing due to the withdrawal of US foreign aid funding through Pepfar, which directly supported more than 16 000 health workers and played a key role in this country’s fight against HIV/AIDS.
Lindsay McKenna, TB project co-director of TAG, is not that confident.
She says: “Public funding from the US government to South Africa is the scaffold on which pharmaceutical companies, philanthropies, and other governments invest in transformative TB and HIV science.
“These ongoing funding disruptions by the US government don't just affect US-funded research projects, they put in peril a much wider ecosystem of global research.
“Donors must act swiftly to preserve scientific advances, prevent the collapse of medical research infrastructure in South Africa, and ensure continuity of care for people living with HIV and TB that have volunteered to participate in research.”