South African civil groups warn of dire impact as US phases out HIV program funding

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Civil society organizations in South Africa said Wednesday that adolescent girls and women are among the first vulnerable groups to feel the pinch of U.S. foreign aid cuts as the Trump administration phases out its more than $400 million support annually for the country’s HIV programs.

The U.S. State Department has said that it would “begin a phased drawdown” of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, a program that has supported South Africa’s battle against HIV and AIDS for the last 20 years and is widely credited with saving more than 20 million lives over that period.

The phasing out of most programs is expected to be completed by the end of September, with critical personnel support continuing through March next year, according to the U.S. State Department.

South Africa has the highest number of people living with HIV, with approximately 8 million people, or about 12.7 % of its 63 million population.

The country was singled out for the halting of financial aid in addition to broader foreign aid cuts announced by U.S. President Donald Trump in an executive order issued in January 2025.

Trump announced a halt to all financial aid to the country the following month, citing political issues which included South Africa’s Black Economic Empowerment policies and widely disputed allegations of a genocide against the white minority Afrikaner community in the country.

He also cited South Africa's land expropriation laws as targeting white Afrikaners and condemned the country’s actions against Israel at the International Court of Justice, where it has accused Israel of committing a genocide in Gaza. Israel vehemently denies the allegation and has said that the attack by Hamas-led militants on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed around 1,200 people, was itself a genocidal act.

A U.S. State Department spokesperson told The Associated Press this week that the South African government had been informed that PEPFAR would be withdrawn if these issues weren't addressed, which included a requirement for senior government officials to “unequivocally condemn all race-based incitement to violence, including the ‘Kill the Boer’ song, more frequently.”

The anti-apartheid liberation song has been interpreted by some as calling for violence against Afrikaners.

According to the South African government, the PEPFAR funding for South Africa was equivalent to about 17% of its budget for HIV programs, but this didn't include the purchase of antiretroviral drugs, since 90% of this was self-funded and the other 10% funded by the Global Fund.

However, other HIV related programs in 27 districts around the country had been adversely affected, with some support facilities shutting down and front-line workers and volunteers losing their jobs.

“The department has long been working on a self-reliance plan to minimize the impact of funding withdrawal since the initial freeze on foreign assistance and a cancellation of USAID grants in January 2025,” South Africa health department spokesperson Foster Mohale said.

Last year, the country announced a $45 million emergency fund to address some of the gaps created by the withdrawal of PEPFAR.

According to civil society group Section27, which has assessed the impact of the funding withdrawals in three districts that have high HIV prevalence in South Africa, prevention services were hardly hit.

“As the health system started to feel the pressure, the response was to prioritize treatment continuity versus prevention,” Section27 senior legal researcher Tendai Mafuma said.

The Anova Health Institute said that it had discontinued its PEPFAR-funded programs and laid off about 3,000 health workers since last year.

“Community delivery of PrEP (preexposure prophylaxis) and prevention services has been heavily impacted,” said Dr. Kate Rees, public health medicine specialist at Anova. “Community delivery of prevention is important to reach the people that need it most.”

She said that priority populations which include children, adolescents and young people were among the most affected, along with key population which include men who have sex with men and people who use drugs, among others.

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FILE - Women walk past a closed clinic run by WITS Reproductive Health Institute (RHI) as a sign on the gate reads "USAID has served the WITS RHI Key Populations Programme a notice to pause programme implementation. As of Tuesday, 28 January, we are unable to provide services until further notice." in Hillbrow, Johannesburg, South Africa, Feb. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A rural area of Northern California experienced its strongest earthquake since 1940 on Wednesday morning, causing some injuries but no immediate reports of major damage, officials said.

The epicenter of the quake, with a preliminary magnitude of 5.6, was about 7 miles (12 kilometers) northwest of the agricultural town of Willits, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was widely felt, including in the coastal city of Fort Bragg. The initial quake was centered inland about 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of Fort Bragg at 8:10 a.m. PT, and the USGS said it was about 5 miles (8 kilometers) deep.

The area in Mendocino County dotted with small, agricultural towns is 140 miles (225 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco.

The Mendocino County Executive Office said some injuries have been reported but provided no details. A message left with the office was not immediately answered.

Power outages are affecting more than 6,000 residents of six towns near the epicenter, the office said in a statement, and encouraged people to stay off the highways and roads to allow work crews to inspect for damage and make repairs.

Brie Leon and her colleagues had just opened Club Calpella Restaurant when the building started shaking, rattling plates and liquor bottles.

“I had just turned the open sign on and went back into the kitchen, and that’s when it happened,” she said. “It almost felt like something hit the building.”

The restaurant is in Calpella, California, a town about 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of the epicenter and in a region of Mendocino County that has been struck by smaller quakes this year.

This was the biggest earthquake in nearly nine decades in the region, which is not on a major fault, said Lucy Jones, a veteran California seismologist.

“The area is not without earthquakes, but they’re usually smaller than this,” Jones said. She added that aftershocks are likely, but they’ll “probably stay on the low side.”

Three other quakes under a 2.7 magnitude struck near the epicenter within an hour.

Leon said the quake knocked frames off the walls and bottles off the shelves in the restaurant and the stockroom next door. She and other servers were cleaning up not long after to welcome customers for breakfast.

“It wasn’t a big, big quake, but things went everywhere,” she said.

Alan Harris and his family were at home in Kelseyville, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) southeast of the epicenter, when he received an earthquake alert on his cellphone. Soon after, the house began shaking.

“I yelled downstairs immediately to my wife and daughter to make sure they were hanging on,” Harris said. “It was scary. You could hear things crashing, mostly on the third floor of the house.”

A security camera inside Harris’ home shook vigorously as the quake struck. A few loud, crashing sounds can be heard on the video footage before Harris calls out: “Is everyone OK?”

It lasted only about 30 seconds. Framed photos fell off the walls and a computer monitor was knocked over, Harris said. Nothing appeared badly damaged, he added, noting he found no structural damage to the house.

Nearly 657,000 earthquake early warning alerts were sent by the MyShake App throughout Northern California, the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services said. Cal OES had not received any reports of damage or injuries but it was coordinating with authorities to evaluate impacts, the office said in a statement.

Weber reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press reporter Russ Bynum contributed from Savannah, Georgia.

Redwood Valley Market owner Alex Chehada picks up items that fell off the shelves after an earthquake in Redwood Valley, Calif., Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Kent Porter/The Press Democrat via AP)

Redwood Valley Market owner Alex Chehada watches his closed circuit feed showing the time when an earthquake struck in Redwood Valley, Calif., Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Kent Porter/The Press Democrat via AP)

Redwood Valley Market owner Alex Chehada looks at items which fell off the shelves after an earthquake in Redwood Valley, Calif., Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Kent Porter/The Press Democrat via AP)