South Africa Faces ‘Burying People’ Crisis as US HIV Funding Ends

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — A stark warning is echoing from South Africa as the country confronts the end of PEPFAR, the US-led program that has been the backbone of its HIV/AIDS response. “What is the plan before we get back to a stage where we are burying people?” one official asked, capturing the growing alarm over the impending funding gap. PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, has provided life-saving antiretroviral treatment to millions of South Africans. With that support now winding down, local health authorities are scrambling to find a sustainable replacement. The central question facing the government is no longer about the scale of the challenge, but the speed of the transition. Without a clear, funded strategy, officials warn that years of progress against the epidemic could be reversed, leading to a return to the high death rates seen at the height of the crisis. The call for an urgent, concrete plan comes as South Africa’s public health system, already under strain, prepares to shoulder the full financial and logistical burden of its HIV program alone.