Limpopo-based NGO braces for financial reductions followingTrump's decisions
A Ticking Time Bomb: Sindy Nkuna's heart pounded as she read the email announcing a temporary halt in US foreign aid funding in January. "I felt shattered," she recounted, "my racing heartbeats filled me with dread, wondering what this means for me and my kids."
Sindy had been assigned to the Hlokomela Clinic in the Mopani district of Limpopo, tracking HIV cases in the fruit and game farming community. The funding for her position, as well as six HIV testing counsellors, a site coordinator, and a part of their financial manager's salary, all came from a grant provided by the Anova Health Institute. The Anova Health Institute, incidentally, was the South African organization that received the most funding from PEPFAR, the US government's AIDS fund.
With news of the imminent permanent cut in USAID funding at the end of February, Hlokomela found itself faced with a dire situation. Their HIV testing team, responsible for fieldwork, was dismissed, and funding for essential equipment, like cooler bags and transport costs for mobile testing clinics, abruptly stopped.
Christine Du Preez, founder of Hlokomela, described the impact as "worse than Covid." The team scrambled to address the crisis, finding ways to keep their remaining staff employed while continuing to provide basic health services to the 25,000 farmers, workers, and their families who relied on them.
Fortunately, Hlokomela had a plan.
Making Do with What You've Got:When their funding from PEPFAR stopped, Hlokomela was taken aback. Since then, HIV testing has dropped by a staggering 90%. However, they found a silver lining in their community health workers, known as nompilos.
Hlokomela has trained about 75 of these farmworkers in health education, along with checking blood pressure and heart rates, and screening for chronic conditions like HIV and TB. The organization provides these CHWs with a monthly stipend to keep them motivated.
Hlokomela has three clinics and 106 staff members, including paid nurses, data capturers, lay counsellors, community health workers, and doctors who voluntarily work twice a week. Anova's funding made up just 2% of Hlokomela's overall budget and was used primarily for mobile testing clinics and the staff that ran them.
In 2008, 28.5% of farmworkers in Hoedspruit had HIV, a startling statistic that was over 10 percentage points higher than the proportion of adults nationwide, according to health department data. Thanks to Hlokomela, that number has dropped to 6.5%.
However, when their funding was cut, the decline in HIV testing was significant. Despite the challenges, Hlokomela took action, focusing on their CHWs to keep the HIV prevention efforts alive.
[1] https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langhiv/article/PIIS2352-3018(20)30348-7/fulltext[2] https://www.aidsmap.com/Temporary-pause-in-AIDS-funding-in-South-Africa-poses-huge-risk-to-both-ongoing-care-and-future-investment/page/2418381[3] https://health-e.org.za/2021/01/fears-of-aids-crisis-in-sa-after-us-aid-suspended/#gref[4] https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00381-w[5] https://www.aids.gov/africa/hiv-prevention/resource/criminalization-aids-response/criminalization-prevention-access-to-health
- Even amidst the devastating news of a temporary halt in US foreign aid funding, Sindy Nkuna faced an unbelievable dilemma: the potential impact on her and her kids.
- The funding for Hlokomela Clinic, a vital HIV tracking institution in Mopani, Limpopo, was predominantly from the Anova Health Institute, a South African organization that received the most funding from PEPFAR, the US government's AIDS fund.
- With the announcement of a permanent cut in USAID funding, Hlokomela found itself in a critical situation, losing its HIV testing team and essential equipment funding for mobile clinics.
- Faced with this emergency, Hlokomela decided to focus on their local community health workers, or nompilos, who had been trained in health education, blood pressure and heart rate screenings, and chronic condition screening such as HIV and TB.
- Although the loss of Anova's funding constituted only 2% of Hlokomela's total budget, it significantly impacted their mobile testing clinics and the staff that ran them.
- Despite these financial challenges, Hlokomela continues to strive for health and wellness in the community, using innovative strategies to maintain HIV prevention efforts and combat the high prevalence of HIV among farmworkers in Hoedspruit.
