—Due to USAID funding cuts
Seithati Motṧoeneng
AT LEAST 625 frontline health workers deployed in the Ministry of Health for treatment and prevention programs have lost their jobs due to the withdrawal of USAID funding.
The funding cuts, resulting from executive orders issued by President Donald Trump when he resumed office early this year, will have a significant negative impact on Lesotho’s health system.
This is according to Dr Tapiwa Turambiswa, the HIV/AIDS program manager at the Ministry of Health, who spoke before the Parliamentary Pandemics Committee this week.
Dr Turambiswa warned that the termination of USAID support, which amounted to over M852 million and had been earmarked for prevention efforts in 10 districts, through the Sustaining Epidemic Control through Unified Prevention (SECURE) Activity program, could lead to an increase in new HIV cases.
The USAID funding cuts had impacted community prevention activities, condom distribution, Pre Exposure Prophylaxis – PrEP, Voluntary Male Medical Circumcision, and other critical services, according to Dr Turambiswa.
The situation arising from the funding cuts was very dire, with hundreds of health workers now jobless.
Dr Turambiswa said Lesotho’s HIV and tuberculosis (TB) programs had been heavily dependent on donor funding, with 86 percent of funding coming from international sources, making them unsustainable.
“There is a great need for us to increase our domestic funding of these programs,” Dr Turambiswa said.
“Additionally, Mr Trump’s executive orders had adversely impacted health system strengthening, including treatment, care, and prevention activities for both HIV and TB.”
Dr Turambiswa shared that since January this year, they had not received any funding for HIV prevention interventions, as the previous waiver funding only covered life-saving medication.
Furthermore, 93 percent of USAID funding had been paused, and they had lost M168 million in funding from the USAID’s “Bophelo bo Botle” (Healthy Life) treatment program.
“The funding termination has led to the retrenchment of 625 healthcare workers, including nurses, pharmacists, doctors, counsellors, psychologists, data clerks, and records assistants,” he said.
Dr Turambiswa emphasized that the loss of HIV prevention funding could open the door for new HIV cases.
While the Global Fund, a multilateral funding mechanism, is still providing support, he said, they had also asked for a pause in major activities “as they reevaluate their funding model”.
Dr Turambiswa said that this was due to the US being the Global Fund’s primary financier.
Lesotho’s problems do not end with the USAID cuts.
In a March interview with AFP, His Majesty King Letsie III warned that Lesotho could suffer significant economic consequences if President Trump followed through on proposed aid cuts and the termination of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) trade agreement.
The loss of AGOA could cost Lesotho up to 40,000 jobs.
“If AGOA is terminated, it will have an immediate impact on the economy because it could mean the loss of jobs for 30,000 to 40,000 people,” the King said at the time.
Enacted in 2000, AGOA has been a crucial economic lifeline for Lesotho and about 30 other sub-Saharan African nations.
However, the trade agreement was nullified after President Trump invoked a trade emergency, resulting in Lesotho being hit with 50 percent reciprocal tariffs.
Mr Trump also sparked a diplomatic uproar in March when he defended the aid cuts, saying of Lesotho, “it is a country nobody has ever heard of.”
Prime Minister Sam Matekane’s government is currently scrambling to secure a meeting with the US government to negotiate the removal of the steep tariffs.
