By Kwanele Dhladhla
The Government has assured the over 200 000 HIV patients in Eswatini that Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART) will continue to be availed against all odds despite the United States of America’s (USA) funding freeze.
Plans are well underway to get approval for a supplementary budget in Parliament with the intent to counter the effects of the United States of America’s latest withdrawal of funding, which has led to the closure of USAID and other critical health service providers which provide crucial medication, including ART for HIV patients.
In the supplementary budget tabled by Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg and approved by the Senate last week, the total allocation to the Ministry of Health was E121.8 million.
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The Ministry of Health disclosed that as of December 2024, 226,596 people were living with HIV in the country.
Out of these, it was mentioned that 219,797 individuals were aware of their status, 217 254 were receiving anti-retroviral therapy.
Among those on ART, it was explained that 190,742 were virally suppressed.
When responding to how the country seeks to avert dire effects emanating from the funding freeze, Minister of Mduduzi Matsebula said the ministry was working with development partners and had assessed the implications of the temporal US funding freeze.
“The team is also developing guideline adjustments that will allow services to continue despite the funding pause.
A budget has been developed to cover priority areas that need to be supported by the government for them to continue.
Patients on the second line of treatment will have ART as the government buys ARVs for the first line. Paediatric, second, and third line patients will be more affected.
Testing and prevention will be affected. The ministry of health has made a calculation, and a supplementary budget will be tabled,” said Matsebula.
Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini on Monday had a telephonic meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
In the meeting, the long and friendly relationship between the two countries was noted. It was reported that the PM appreciated the existing bilateral relations with the US. The Secretary of State also expressed hope for expanding the existing partnership between the two countries.
The PM also informed Parliament that the government had committed to collate a comprehensive strategy to try and avert the loss of 954 jobs due to the US decision by President Donald Trump to cut more than 90 per cent of foreign aid contracts to countries including Eswatini.
“Out of the 954 directly employed by US agencies, 300 work directly with government.
Therefore, now that letters have been issued relieving all staff members which had been employed by USAID, government will have to do the same if funding is not mobilised immediately,” said Dlamini.
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The PM pointed out that the impact would be massive and would also affect the National Emergency Response Council on HIV/AIDS (NERCHA) since it receives funding from Global Fund, which receives 33 per cent of their finances from the US government.
“I concede that this is an eye opener that we need to be independent. We are very grateful to the American government for the support, particularly in the fight against HIV/AIDS and health in general.
However, the country also needs to be self-sustainable,” Dlamini stated.
He went on to mention that the government has set an ambitious target to grow the economy by 12 per cent with the intent to address challenges faced by the health sector and the entire kingdom at large.
