closing as President Donald Trump announced the United States was slashing foreign aid. Some South Africans living with, or at risk of, HIV secured supplies of life-saving drugs just in time. Others did not. Half a year later, the country with more people living with HIV than any other is struggling to treat its most vulnerable. Over 63,000 people were being treated in the 12 clinics across the nation that shut down. Up to 220,000 people have faced disruption to their daily HIV medication. South Africa’s government has vowed it won’t let the US withdrawal of about $427 million in support collapse its HIV programme, the largest in the world.

Sex workers, among the most vulnerable South Africans as their work is illegal, and transgender people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, for fear of retaliation from families or communities. They described a new world of difficulty in obtaining HIV medication or the preventive medicine for people at risk of HIV.

One HIV-positive sex worker and mother of three said she was off medication for almost four months after being turned away from public hospitals, which the government’s health department says should not be happening.

“The only thing that I could think of was my kids, and that I am going to die, and how am I going to explain to my kids that I am sick because of the line of work that I chose?” she said. The 37-year-old said she finally obtained a month’s supply of medication in June from a mobile clinic that was introduced after the funding cuts. She didn’t know what she would do after that. (Jamaica Gleaner)