TAC demands French President Macron not cut life saving HIV, TB, and malaria programmes
21 November, Pretoria – Today the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) is protesting outside the French Embassy in Pretoria, demanding that President Emmanuel Macron not cut France’s pledge to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund).
In 2022 France was the second largest donor to the Global Fund, pledging Euro 1.6 billion for 2023-2026. France even stood in solidarity with millions globally to push other countries to increase their commitments. Yet this year, Macron has refused to commit to maintain this pledge – and news broke this week that he was instead considering a deadly cut to the Global Fund. This comes ahead of a high-level replenishment meeting taking place in Johannesburg today, co-hosted by the governments of the UK and South Africa.
“President Macron must not cut funding to the Global Fund or else the consequences will be severe”, said Sibongile Tshabalala, TAC’s National Chairperson. “Millions will be deprived access to their lifesaving HIV treatment or prevention tools, others will be prevented from getting screening and treatment for curable TB, and millions fewer in malaria risk areas will receive mosquito nets. In short, many people will die if Macron cuts France’s commitment to the Global Fund.”
Following the United States funding cuts earlier this year, driving HIV programmes around the world into crisis, a fully funded Global Fund has never been more important.
Ritshidze’s community-led monitoring already revealed major disruptions in South Africa following the United States funding cuts. Of 326 clinics monitored earlier this year, 48% said capacity had reduced and 85% faced critical staffing shortages; waiting times lengthened and filing systems collapsed in multiple places; routine HIV testing dropped with less than half of people not on ART offered a test; and many people were thrust back into overcongested clinics to collect ARVs after the closure of pick-up points and drop-in centres. These are structural failures that push people out of care, fuelling the HIV retention crisis in South Africa. For other countries reliant on United States funding to procure ARVs and other commodities the repercussions were far more deadly.
Massive Global Fund budget cuts would only worsen this crisis. A recent study estimates that 22.6 million people globally could die as a result of both European and United States funding cuts.
In particular the Global Fund continues to fund critical programmes that the United States government has aggressively defunded. This includes programmes for those most at risk of getting HIV – including sex workers, people who use drugs, and queer and trans people.
“We already witnessed services getting worse after the PEPFAR cuts. In some districts as many as 25% of clinics had no basic commodities like condoms available. Fewer clinics had capacity to offer PrEP services. Harm reduction and gender affirming care services remained almost impossible to get. Efforts to make our clinics safer and more friendly for sex workers, people who use drugs, and trans and queer communities stopped altogether – this while drop-in centres and mobile services closed forcing us back into these clinics, where we can be treated cruelly and sometimes denied entry altogether,” said Londiwe Khuzwayo, TAC’s Key Population Organiser. “Cuts to the Global Fund will only make it harder to find the services we need.”
“President Macron has always been such a strong supporter of people living with HIV until now. It was France that invented the Global Fund in the first place, back in 1997 with the FSTI,” said Anele Yawa, TAC’s General Secretary. “We are urging Macron now: don’t listen to your Budget Minister, don’t cut funding for life saving treatment. Make cuts elsewhere if you must, but not to the Global Fund, where it kills.”
For more information or to arrange interviews contact:
Ndivhuwo Rambau | +27 66 161 1048 | ndivhuwo.rambau@tac.org.za
Lotti Rutter | +27 82 065 5842 | lotti@healthgap.org
Ngqabutho Mpofu | +27 72 225 9675 | ngqabutho.mpofu@tac.org.za
