US Aid cuts hit schools and clinics in Africa

DW (English)

We asked our correspondents in Kenya, South Africa, and Nigeria about the im-pact of aid cuts. In Kenya, patients struggle to access vital medication. In South Africa, people with HIV face shortages of antiretroviral drugs. In Nigeria, over 95% of healthcare workers are out of work, and school programs have been halted. Can these countries build local, independent support systems?

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00:00Education has also been hit hard. More than 13,200 out-of-school children who

00:07are getting help to return to school are now stuck. For many young Nigerians, these

00:12programs were the only real support they had. Now things are more uncertain and

00:17planning for the future just became harder.

00:22U.S. funding previously made up just over a quarter of Kenya's official

00:26development money and from what we hear everything from education to the

00:30national health database could be affected. Most worrying though is the

00:34upkeep of life-saving measures like medication for the 1.4 million people in

00:37Kenya living with HIV. UNAIDS says there's enough medication for the next

00:42three to six months but after that the situation isn't clear.

00:47HIV experts are concerned about the impact on vulnerable groups such as the

00:52people that used to attend this clinic. Now clinics like these have been set up by

00:57NGOs and universities specifically focusing on communities like sex

01:03workers and members of the LGBTQI plus community. Historically these communities

01:09were reluctant to attend government clinics because of the treatment they

01:13received there.

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