US to end Pepfar funding of South Africa's HIV programmes

The US government says it will stop funding programmes in South Africa intended to tackle the spread of HIV and Aids. More than eight million South Africans are living with HIV – the highest number of any country in the world. The US State Department appeared to link the decision to South Africa's alleged failure to protect the white-minority Afrikaner community - an allegation the South African government has repeatedly rejected. South Africa's health ministry responded by saying that though it had not been informed of this decision, it had "long been working on a self-reliance plan". Until 2025, the US was supporting South Africa's efforts to deal with the virus with an estimated $400m (£300m) a year through the President's Emergency Fund for Aids Relief (Pepfar). But since the inauguration of President Donald Trump, relations between the two countries have increasingly soured. Shortly after he came into office, Trump issued an executive order alleging that "countless" South African policies dismantled equal opportunities and fuelled violence "against racially disfavored landowners". This is disputed by the South African government, which says its Black Economic Empowerment polic