Alarm over USAID funding cut and impact on vet health services

THE South African Veterinary Association (SAVA) has raised urgent alarms about the recent suspension of funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

- ANITA NKONKI

The association stresses that the sudden termination has significant repercussions not only on health services but also on essential veterinary programmes vital to maintaining public health safety in South Africa.

Dr. Paul van der Merwe, interim managing director at SAVA, articulated the dire implications of this funding withdrawal.

Van der Merwe highlighted that the sudden cessation had led to the shelving of numerous initiatives which prove crucial to decades of progress in epidemic control, as well as jeopardising the overall survey of animal health.

He raised the combination of decreased international aid and a diminishing pool of veterinary professionals significantly hampers South Africa's public health infrastructure.