Funding cuts jeopardise HIV research in South Africa
South African scientists, at the University of Witwatersran, are developing HIV vaccines that could help change the trajectory of the HIV epidemic. However, weeks before the clinical trials were set to begin, Trump’s administration decided to terminate U.S. funding, possibly, resulting in years of critical research in jeopardy, on July 14th , according to Africanews.
A gene therapy group leader said “In South Africa, the research community is still relatively small.” “It is not always possible for everyone to secure funding to do their work. That has an impact on the research and the individuals carrying it out.”
The BRILLIANT Consortium (Bringing Innovation to clinical and Laboratory research to end HIV In Africa through New vaccine Technology), was expected to draw on South Africa’s scientific expertise, offering knowledge that could benefit HIV research worldwide. In spite of that, the sudden funding withdrawal has already caused some major concerns. The South African administration has confirmed one of the effects of the funding withdrawal has resulted in minimum 8,000 health workers in the Country’s HIV program have been laid off.
A lab technician, Nozipho Mlotshwa, says that the privation of funding has personal consequences as her position “is grant funded,” she said. “If the grant is there, they can pay my salary. I use that to help at home and pay for my studies. Now that this has happened, it is affecting me in the long run.”
The South African government has mentioned the difficulties that they will face in having to find alternative funding to replace U.S. support. In the absence of U.S. funding, HIV infections are predicted to rise, and access to medication will become onerous, undoing decades of progress in reducing the virus.
Africa News, Maghrebi.org
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