PEPFAR funding exempt from Trump's proposed cuts to foreign aid

THE US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the global program to fight HIV/AIDS, has been exempt from President Donald Trump's request to slash billions in spending on foreign aid and public broadcasting previously approved by Congress.

This comes after objections from lawmakers in both Republican and Democrat parties, bringing the size of the package of cuts to $9 billion from $9.4 billion.

Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, told reporters after lunch with Republican senators that Trump could accept a change in the measure to exempt PEPFAR.

"There is a substitute amendment that does not include the PEPFAR rescission and we’re fine with that," Vought said.

Congress has until Friday to pass the rescissions package, originally a request to claw back $8.3 billion in foreign aid funding and $1.1 billion for public broadcasting. Otherwise, the request would expire and the White House will be required to adhere to spending plans passed by Congress.

If the Senate passes the bill without the PEPFAR cuts, the measure must go back to the House of Representatives for a vote before it can be sent to the White House for Trump to sign into law. Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota, a Republican, said he expected the House would act quickly to pass the measure.

PEPFAR aid constituted 17% of South Africa’s HIV/AIDS programme. 

Reacting to the developments, South Africa’s health department spokesperson Foster Mohale said: "We have noted the ruling on PEPFAR, but this doesn’t translate into immediate reversal of funding cuts.”

Health Justice Initiative director, Fatima Hassan said: "To be honest no one knows the details on this as there is minimal transparency on the US side, so too early to tell what if any impact on SA."

Francois Venter from Wits University and Ezintsha said: "Even if they do return, everyone will be deeply wary of the deep dependency on these cuts, and the lack of preparedness and unwillingness of the government to acknowledge the impact of the cuts.”

He said the initial impact of funding cuts had been "devastating". 

"We haven’t seen the collapse of immediate delivery services like labs and immediate clinical services, like in some countries, but case finding, data services, monitoring of clinic quality, and many key population services have pretty much ceased to exist. The combination of the overnight withdrawal of PEPFAR, and the complete lack of any urgency or action from the Department of Health, will likely translate into hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths, and millions of new infections, in the next decades, unless something is done urgently."

Cape Times