The Trump administration has decided to start phasing out HIV funding for South Africa following the country\u2019s \u201cfailure to make demonstrable progress on policy requests by the administration,\u201d a State Department official told POLITICO on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The official, who agreed to discuss the decision only if POLITICO did not use their name, said the decision to \u201cinitiate a phased drawdown of PEPFAR programming in South Africa\u201d is in line with President Donald Trump\u2019s February 2025 executive order<\/a> accusing South Africa of discriminating against its white Afrikaner minority and directing U.S. agencies to stop providing aid to the country unless it changes its policies.<\/p>\n The South African government has rejected accusations of discriminating against Afrikaners.<\/p>\n Afrikaners ruled South Africa for nearly half a century under an apartheid system of discrimination against black South Africans. That ended in the early 1990s because of resistance from black South Africans and international sanctions. Some Afrikaners today say they are victims of discrimination stemming from affirmative action<\/a> and land redistribution<\/a> policies.<\/p>\n The funding is from the President\u2019s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief \u2014 PEPFAR \u2014 of which South Africa has been a top beneficiary. The country has the highest number of people living with HIV in the world: around 7.8 million<\/a>, according to the latest World Health Organization data.<\/p>\n South Africa received some $456 million in HIV\/AIDS funding in 2024, according to U.S. government data<\/a>. That dropped to $213 million in 2025, according to partial government data for that fiscal year. Trump abruptly cut billions of dollars in foreign aid after taking office last year.<\/p>\n So far this year, South Africa has been allocated $25 million to fight HIV, according to the partial U.S. government data.<\/p>\n \u201cThe United States communicated to the South African government multiple times at many levels that PEPFAR funding would be terminated if they failed to address President Trump\u2019s concerns,\u201d the State Department official added.<\/p>\n The embassy of South Africa in the United States did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n The Daily Caller first reported the plan<\/a> to end South Africa\u2019s PEPFAR funding.<\/p>\n In addition to cutting foreign aid to the country, the Trump administration has granted refugee status to Afrikaners who want to come to the United States.<\/p>\n Besides the administration\u2019s concerns about Afrikaners, the State Department official said South Africa should not need to rely on U.S. aid.<\/p>\n \u201cSouth Africa is a middle-income country and is more than capable of supporting its own health programs,\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n Until January 2025, U.S. HIV funding accounted for about 18 percent of South Africa\u2019s budget to fight the virus, which causes AIDS.<\/p>\n \u201cPEPFAR was never intended to be permanent; its success is measured by countries’ ability to sustain and build upon these gains,\u201d the State Department official said.<\/p>\n The State Department has already excluded South Africa from a plan to supply 2 million doses of lenacapavir<\/a>, a relatively new drug that helps prevent people at high risk of HIV from contracting the virus. It is less onerous than older preventive drugs for HIV because it only requires two injections a year. The State Department argued that South Africa could afford to pay for its own drugs. The country started rolling out the drug<\/a> this month.<\/p>\n