People who use drugs among victims of Trump's assault on USAID

In January 30, employees at TB HIV Care received a letter informing them that they’d soon get their last paychecks. The nonprofit organization, working directly with people who use drugs in South Africa, has been forced to halt operations—part of a global freeze imposed on groups receiving United States humanitarian aid. 

Some 5,000 people were being served by TB HIV CARE at two harm reduction sites in eastern South Africa—depending on them for access to resources including sterile syringes and medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD).

“I owe my HIV-negative status to their efforts.”

Barend Beukes, 42, who lives in the city of Tshwane in Gauteng province, has relied on groups like TB HIV Care, and others funded by US aid programs, for years. “I owe my HIV-negative status to their efforts,” he told Filter.

He got his first dose of methadone right before the COVID lockdowns. “It has progressively been changing my life ever since. Programs like opioid support therapy have allowed me the semblance of a normal life.”

The two sites include one in Tshwane, which has been serving about 4,000 people, and another in the Ehlanzeni district of Mpumalanga province, serving around 1,000.

“Both sites are now closed, leaving these clients without access to critical harm reduction services,” Klaus Mtshweni,a national leader with the SANAC Civil Society Forum PWUD Sub-sector, told Filter.