Wednesday, January 29, 2025 - A clinic in Hillbrow, Johannesburg, which provides essential healthcare services to the transgender community, is one of the many centres impacted by the United States' decision to freeze funding to several of its international beneficiaries.
The Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute’s transgender
health programme, previously supported by USAID, has been forced to close some
of its services, effective Tuesday, January 28, 2025. This comes after a
"stop order communication" was issued regarding certain USAID-funded
programmes, as confirmed by Wits University's Professor Shabir Madhi.
According to Madhi, the communication ordered an immediate
cessation of all activities related to the programme, leaving patients and
staff members facing uncertainty.
A transgender woman who visited the Hillbrow clinic on
Tuesday afternoon shared her experience of receiving an SMS notifying her to
collect her hormone script before 4pm, as the clinic would no longer be able to
provide services. While she expressed that she could collect her script at a
private institution, she noted the added financial burden of having to pay for
the service herself.
The SMS sent to patients read in part: "Our donor,
USAID, has served the Wits RHI key population programme a notice to pause
programme implementation. As of close of business tomorrow [Tuesday] 28
January, we are unable to provide services until further notice."
An employee from the clinic revealed that approximately
1,800 patients and 24 staff members are now affected by the closure. Healthcare
professionals, including doctors, nurses, and data capturers integrated into
the programme, are left in a state of confusion about their future salaries and
job security.
Dr. Angelique Coetzee, a healthcare expert, voiced her
concern, stating that South Africa needs to reduce its reliance on foreign aid
to ensure sustainable healthcare. “People should be worried. There is an impact
on patient care and livelihoods. Doctors, nurses, and data capturers that are
integrated into our clinics and hospitals will now be stranded and will not
know where to get their salaries going forward,” Dr. Coetzee said.
The South African Department of Health has yet to issue a
formal response. Spokesperson Foster Mohale noted that they had not received
official communication from USAID, but would provide further details once the
department is formally notified.
The freeze in funding underscores the vulnerability of
critical healthcare services in South Africa, particularly for marginalized
communities, and raises questions about the long-term sustainability of such
programs without foreign support.
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