HIV activists from the Global HIV Treatment Coalition interrupted the Portfolio Committee on Health yesterday, calling for a response to a letter they wrote to address the dramatically reduced public health funding, specifically related to HIV.
The letter pleads with government to accelerate action in response to the US funding cuts, and requested an urgent meeting on the crisis, an immediate response to fund existing programmes, particularly overburdened facilities, and to make health jobs more sustainable over the next few years.
Activists who disrupted the meeting were escorted out by security, writes Liezl Human for GroundUp.
HIV activist Zackie Achmat said: “The question is: Is government serious? … We want an emergency plan to deal with sex workers, PrEP not being given out, to ensure that trans people get their treatment, and to ensure that within communities the queues that are becoming longer can be cut again.”
The Portfolio Committee on Health, chaired by Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo, was sent a request for comment which was not received by the time of publication. But GroundUp has been informed that Dhlomo has agreed to a meeting with the activists.
GroundUp article – HIV activists disrupt Parliament (Creative Commons Licence)
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