South Africans fear spike in HIV infections as US aid cuts bite

南非民众担忧,随着美国援助削减,HIV感染率可能激增。

Newshour

2025-07-10

47 分钟
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The UN agency dealing with AIDS and HIV warns of millions of new cases, directly as a result of global funding cuts. We hear from the head of the agency -- and from one of the most exposed countries, South Africa. Also, Ukraine comes under another huge Russian drone and missile attack. And a century old geological puzzle solved in Scotland. (Photo credit: Reuters)
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  • Hello and welcome to News Hour.

  • It's coming to you live from the BBC World Service studios in central London.

  • I'm Tim Franks.

  • Sometimes when we talk about budget cuts,

  • about reductions for example in funding for aid programmes,

  • it can sound a bit abstract, a bit bloodless.

  • But the figures out today by the UN's agency which deals with HIV and AIDS are anything but.

  • The startling conclusion from UNAIDS is that with massive cuts to money from the United States and other major donors,

  • over the next four years there could be six million new HIV infections and a further four million AIDS-related deaths globally.

  • The agency's report has just been released in South Africa,

  • which has the highest number of people living with HIV anywhere in the world.

  • It's also home to some of the world's leading HIV researchers whose work could be heavily affected by the cuts.

  • First, our Africa correspondent Myeni Jones is in Johannesburg and she sent us this report.

  • I'm at the Vidkoppen Clinic in northern Johannesburg in their waiting room.

  • There's about 50 people here waiting to be seen.

  • This is a clinic that sees over 200 people a day, most of them from lower incomes,

  • some of them migrants, and it's been affected by the USOID cuts.

  • And this is a clinic that is a lifeline for people that often don't have somewhere else to go.

  • We visited the Vidkoppen Clinic shortly after the cuts were first announced and spoke to some of its patients who were anxious about their impact.

  • So, firstly, when I was sick without attending the clinic, my life was so bad.