South Africa's condom usage tanked to record lows, and the head of the National AIDS Council is freaking out about it. Dr Thembisile Xulu says the country still has around 8 million people living with HIV, but prevention efforts took a massive hit after US funding got axed in February and COVID messed up treatment access for years. The funding cuts killed off community outreach programs, and people basically stopped talking about HIV like it mattered anymore.
Xulu wants everyone tested and either on PrEP, using condoms, or getting circumcised if they test negative. New infections dropped from 211,955 in 2017 to 157,676 recently, but young people are ditching protection at alarming rates. The funding disaster could cause 85,000 extra infections by 2030 if things keep going this way, and research on vaccines and long-acting PrEP is completely stalled.
Xulu wants everyone tested and either on PrEP, using condoms, or getting circumcised if they test negative. New infections dropped from 211,955 in 2017 to 157,676 recently, but young people are ditching protection at alarming rates. The funding disaster could cause 85,000 extra infections by 2030 if things keep going this way, and research on vaccines and long-acting PrEP is completely stalled.
