Africa. China has pledged $3.49 million to support HIV/AIDS prevention services in South Africa over the next two years, as part of a new partnership facilitated by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).
Chinese Ambassador to South Africa Wu Peng announced that the funds will focus on prevention programs targeting youth and people who inject drugs, two of the groups most vulnerable to infection.
South Africa, which has the largest HIV-positive population in the world, previously relied heavily on U.S. funding, with Washington covering about 17% of its HIV/AIDS budget (over $400 million annually). However, following cuts to U.S. foreign aid earlier this year, Pretoria is seeking alternative funding sources, including domestic resources and new international partners.
South African Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi welcomed the Chinese initiative, saying it would strengthen the country’s HIV response.
Meanwhile, the U.S. has begun distributing the new HIV-prevention drug Lenacapavir in 12 African countries — though South Africa was excluded from the program, amid deteriorating relations between Pretoria and Washington since Donald Trump’s return to office in January.
U.S. State Department official Jeremy Lewin stated on November 18 that countries with “significant domestic resources, such as South Africa,” should be encouraged to fund their own medication programs. South Africa currently self-finances 83% of its national HIV program.
The Chinese-funded program will benefit 54,000 adolescents and young adults across vocational and technical institutions nationwide by providing testing kits and condom dispensers, as well as 500 injecting drug users, including inmates, through harm-reduction and opioid-substitution therapies.
Earlier this year, UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima warned that U.S. funding cuts — which have historically led global HIV/AIDS efforts and saved millions of lives — could undermine the global goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.
In parallel, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which relies mainly on government contributions, aims to raise at least $18 billion for its 2026–2028 funding cycle. The fund will hold its replenishment meeting in Johannesburg, on the sidelines of the G20 Summit, with success seen as crucial to expanding efforts against AIDS, TB, and malaria, and to strengthening health systems in the world’s most vulnerable regions.
