Reconnect People with HIV Care in South Africa

During the latter half of 2025 SWEAT continued to reach out to vulnerable people in Cape Town who used to receive services from PEPFAR funded clinics that were shut down overnignt in February 2025, leaving thousands without access to life saving HIV treatment.

We conducted research amongst the affected people and managed to show that less than half of those who were receiving treatment from those clinics have managed to find an alternative facility to access medication. The majority of the very vulnerable people that SWEAT and other organisations had manage to link to treatment over several years had simply stopped taking their medication and are now at risk of becoming seriously ill.

Fortunately, the Global Fund has stepped in to fill the gap left by the PEPFAR withdrawal and new service providers have been appointed to establish dedicated clinics for sex workers, transgender people, men who have sex with men and people who use drugs. SWEAT is now assisting the service provider that is establishing the sex worker clinic to trace those who have stopped taking their treatment with the new service provider.

The service will not only save the lives of those sex workers who have already been infected with HIV but will also provide PrEP to those who are not living with HIV. This will protect them from infection and will also prevent the infection of others.