HIV, TB RESEARCH SITES ARE IN TROUBLE

For the first time, analysis shows how US funding cuts threaten to collapse medical research

- LISA ISAACS

A TOTAL of 39 TB and HIV clinical research sites in the country are under threat 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% 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, and that the country will not beg the Trump administration to reinstate the US-backed programme that directly supported more than 16 000 health workers and played a key role in this country’s fight against HIV/AIDS.