South Africa has the highest number of people living with HIV in the world.
Approximately 14.4% of the adult population is known to carry the virus, with an estimated 9,400,000 people affected. Each year, around 80,000 people in the country die due to HIV.
The US government previously contributed $427 million to support this issue.
However, President Donald Trump decided to cut this aid, and subsequently, free clinics in South Africa were closed, leaving patients without medication.
Although the South African government has pledged that the withdrawal of aid will not collapse the HIV program, it is struggling to fill the resulting funding gap.
Experts have warned that hundreds of thousands of new infections could occur over the next few years.
Already, more than 63,000 people have been affected by the closure of 12 clinics. Up to 220,000 people who previously had access to daily HIV medication are now facing difficulties.
Even before the cuts, only 2 million people were able to access medication, which represents just one-fifth of the country’s HIV-positive population.