South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi at the official launch of the new injectable drug for HIV prevention, Lenacapavir. Credit: GCIS
By Ed Holt
BRATISLAVA, Jun 9 2026 (IPS)
As South Africa officially launches the rollout of a groundbreaking HIV prevention drug, civic groups in the country have slammed the plan, saying it will not reach anywhere near enough people.
President Cyril Ramaphosa on June 5 launched the roll-out in South Africa of lenacapavir, a twice-yearly injectable HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) drug that has been shown to offer almost complete protection against the disease, billing it as a ‘historic event’.
But activists say there is nothing to celebrate, warning the targets set in the rollout are too low, and the volumes of the drug provided by the pharma firm behind its development, Gilead, are tiny.
“In an ideal world, South Africa would not be rolling out lenacapavir as a small pilot. We would be treating it as an epidemic-ending intervention. The objective should be to get millions of people onto lenacapavir as quickly as possible, not a few hundred thousand over several years,” Tian Johnson, founder and strategist of the Pan-African health justice advocacy group, African Alliance, told IPS.
“South Africa has the world’s largest HIV epidemic. We also helped generate the scientific evidence that made lenacapavir possible. An appropriate response would therefore be a national scale-up plan linked to epidemiological need, not constrained by artificial scarcity created by patent monopolies, donor allocations, and supply decisions made outside the country,” he added.
South Africa has the world’s highest burden of HIV, with around 8 million people living with HIV. In 2024 it recorded 170,000 new infections, accounting for roughly 13% of the 1.3 million new cases globally that year.
Lenacapavir has been shown in trials to provide almost complete protection against HIV acquisition. It has been praised not just for its effectiveness but also for its potential for very high adherence, as it is an injection given only every six months.
Civic groups say that if rolled out in a timely manner and with greater volumes, it could avert up to 52,200 new infections per year in South Africa alone.
They also point to modelling which has shown that around 2 million people in South Africa need to be taking lenacapavir annually for it to have a real impact on the number of new HIV infections.
But the government’s rollout is expected to reach only around 450,000 people over the next two years. Moreover, only just under 38,000 doses have so far arrived in the country.
Activists blame adversarial US policy and effective monopolies on the drug’s supply for this and say it has highlighted concerns over who has real control over efforts to end the epidemic in the country.
The Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria (GF) and the United States President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR) have historically been central to funding South Africa’s HIV response.
But days after Donald Trump entered the White House early last year, PEPFAR slashed around half of its funding for HIV in South Africa – what is left of it is due to run out this month.
So far, the Trump administration is refusing to fund lenacapavir for South Africa as the two countries lock horns politically and ideologically.
This means that the doses to be used in South Africa over the next 18 months to two years will be funded by the Global Fund and are expected to be only sufficient for 456,000 people.
Meanwhile, since Gilead is currently the only manufacturer of lenacapavir and generics are not available on the market yet, there is no alternative path available to secure more doses for the rollout.
Currently the cost of Lenacapavir is about USD 28,000 per person a year in the U.S., but Gilead has issued six licences to companies to manufacture generics, which will be available to 120 low- and middle-income countries. These are expected to become available in 2027, potentially for as little as USD 40 per person per year.
Earlier this year, it was announced the South African government was working to identify a local company to manufacture lenacapavir. Once identified, that company would then be recommended to Gilead for a voluntary licence to produce the drug.
In 2024, Gilead granted such licences to six generic manufacturers across India, Egypt and Pakistan to produce and supply the drug to 120 low- and middle-income countries. At the time, critics pointed out that no South African drugmakers were included.
Gilead has said it is open to adding another licence for local manufacturing in Sub-Saharan Africa. But activists warn that any final decision on a licence will rest with the company.
The groups also highlighted previous delays in the rollout of the programme, which had initially been scheduled to begin in April. When the first doses arrived in South Africa in March and April, they were subject to obligatory regulatory tests. Gilead could have asked for an exemption to the tests but did not, activists claim.
They say all this means properly protecting people against HIV in South Africa is effectively dependent on a pharmaceutical firm and US political policy.
“Gilead currently exercises extraordinary influence over who receives lenacapavir, in what quantities, and on what timeline. When a country with the world’s largest HIV epidemic cannot independently determine access to a medicine that was partly researched within its own borders, something is fundamentally wrong with the balance of power. The uncomfortable reality is that key decisions affecting South Africa’s HIV response are still being made in corporate boardrooms and donor negotiations rather than in South Africa. That should concern everyone, regardless of where they stand on this rollout,” said Johnson.
“Many countries are receiving doses funded by the US, and then also being funded as a result of re-allocation of already committed Global Fund funding repurposed for lenacapavir. The US is refusing to fund South Africa ‘s lenacapavir program, even though there is no better example of a country that needs lenacapavir, and [the programme] would immediately show impact,” Asia Russell, Executive Director of HIV advocacy group Health Gap, told IPS.
“The US government has stated its goal is to bend the curve of new HIV infections, but it is blocking access to the doses urgently needed in South Africa, which means it will fail to reach its goal. It should immediately reverse this decision, stop bullying South Africa, and provide doses – South Africa’s minuscule allocation of lenacapavir only from the Global Fund means the pandemic will continue raging in South Africa,” she added.
It will also have a detrimental effect on wider efforts to tackle HIV outside South Africa, others say.
“South Africa accounts for more than 13 percent of new HIV infections globally each year, and is a home for millions of other public health care recipients from other countries who benefit from the South African health care system. The US government’s refusal to support South Africa with lenacapavir and cut off other funding is not only cruel but also contributes to delays in ending the HIV pandemic,” Bellinda Thibela, Coordinator for Health Justice and Human Rights at Health GAP, told IPS
Meanwhile, activists point out what they see as another huge injustice in the situation.
South Africa was key to the development of the drug – it hosted testing sites, its clinics were used in research, and subjects came from its communities – yet it is now struggling to secure sufficient supplies of that same drug.
“South Africa played a pivotal role in the clinical development of lenacapavir, hosting 25 of the 28 trial sites that participated in the PURPOSE 1 Phase III study of this groundbreaking long-acting HIV prevention tool. Yet, despite this substantial contribution, my country has found itself in the difficult position that, following approval by the US FDA and rollout in several high-income countries, access to lenacapavir at scale for PrEP remains abysmally low and challenging. And not just for South Africa,” Fatima Hassan of the Health Justice Initiative (HJI), told IPS.
“This underscores persistent inequities within the global innovation ecosystem, where countries that bear a disproportionate burden of disease and contribute significantly to research and development often face delays in accessing the very health technologies they helped bring to fruition. It also raises important questions about local manufacturing, technology transfer, regulatory capacity, affordability, and equitable access in markets that are frequently perceived as less commercially attractive, despite their central role in generating the evidence that drives global health innovation and the development of new health technologies,” she added.
In a statement, Gilead said the launch of the rollout was an important step toward expanding access to lenacapavir for communities most affected by HIV.
“South Africa is at the heart of global efforts to end HIV. With the country’s launch of lenacapavir, there is now an opportunity to rapidly accelerate progress,” said Daniel O’Day, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Gilead Sciences. “Through partnerships with country leadership, the Global Fund, and the U.S. State Department via PEPFAR, Gilead is working to bring lenacapavir to the communities most in need, ahead of the broad rollout of generic versions of the medicine.”
The company also highlighted what it said was its commitment to supporting broad, equitable and sustainable access to lenacapavir for HIV prevention globally, pointing to its royalty-free voluntary licence agreements with six manufacturers enabling generic supply across 120 low- and lower-middle-income countries to support long-term, lower-cost medication supply.
“As highlighted by today’s announcement and the strong, coordinated leadership demonstrated in South Africa, the continued collaboration between countries, global health partners and industry will be critical to reaching people with new innovations at scale, reducing new HIV infections and advancing our shared goal of ending HIV as a public health threat,” the company said in the statement.
Civic groups have called on South Africa’s government to scale up the volumes for the rollout and expand it to make sure it can be accessed by more people – they have criticised the fact that out of more than 3,000 public clinics, just 300 in 23 districts have been chosen for the rollout, and mobile clinics, which would be more likely accessed by some communities, are not being used.
They also want to see more pressure put on Gilead to drastically expand its current licence territories to help manufacture lenacapavir.
“At the moment, we have a Gilead-driven launch event, but we do not have a credible epidemic-ending plan. The bigger issue is that South Africa appears to have accepted the limits imposed by Gilead rather than challenging them,” said Johnson.
He added that under the current roll-out plan a crucial opportunity to end the HIV epidemic sooner in South Africa was being missed.
“The tragedy is that South Africa is not dealing with a scientific failure – the science worked. Lenacapavir is one of the most promising HIV prevention tools ever developed. What we are facing is a political and access failure. If we know that roughly two million people need access annually to achieve maximum public health impact, then a faux roll out reaching a fraction of that number inevitably means preventable infections will continue occurring.
“Every year we delay large-scale access is another year in which tens of thousands of South Africans will acquire HIV despite the existence of a prevention tool capable of dramatically reducing transmission. This is why the debate is not really about a rollout. It is about whether South Africa intends to end the epidemic or manage it. The current approach manages the epidemic dismally. An epidemic-ending strategy would look very different,” Johnson said.
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The world often asks whether we can afford to invest in preparedness before a crisis occurs. The more relevant question is whether we can afford not to. Credit: UNICEF/Carmel Ndomba Mbikayi
By Mario Jimenez and Ifeanyi Nsofor
WASHINGTON DC, Jun 9 2026 (IPS)
When the world learned that Ebola was spreading across parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, one fact stood out above all others: there was no approved vaccine for the virus responsible.
Not because scientists only recently discovered it.
Not because the technology does not exist.
But because the world never made the investment.
No Vaccine Exists Because the World Failed to Invest
The current outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo ebolavirus, one of several species that cause Ebola disease. The virus was first identified in Uganda in 2007. Nearly two decades later, as hundreds of suspected infections and dozens of deaths are reported across Central and East Africa, health workers are confronting the same deadly disease without a licensed vaccine or treatment approved to prevent or treat it respectively.
This is not simply a scientific failure. It is a health equity failure.
The outbreak is unlikely to become another COVID-19. Ebola spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids, making it far less transmissible than airborne viruses. Yet the lesson it offers is no less important. It reveals whose health risks attract sustained investment and whose are allowed to remain neglected.
For years, global health leaders have warned that epidemic preparedness cannot focus only on threats that endanger wealthy countries. Pathogens do not become priorities because of their biological risks alone. They become priorities because of political attention, financial incentives and public visibility.
The result is a troubling pattern: communities facing the greatest risks often have access to the fewest tools.
Bundibugyo virus has caused only a handful of outbreaks since its discovery. Unlike the more common Zaire strain of Ebola, which drove major epidemics in West Africa and eastern Congo, Bundibugyo attracted relatively little research funding and commercial attention. While effective vaccines and treatments were developed for the Zaire strain, investment in countermeasures for Bundibugyo remained limited.
Now the consequences are visible.
The Outbreak Exposes a Global Health Equity Gap
Doctors and nurses in eastern Congo and Uganda are relying primarily on supportive care, isolation measures, contact tracing and community engagement to stop transmission. Scientists are racing to develop vaccines and treatments, but those efforts are occurring during an outbreak rather than before one.
The contrast is striking. We are witnessing extraordinary scientific mobilization precisely because the crisis has already begun.
The Cycle of Panic and Neglect ContinuesLast week, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, announced up to US$50 million through its First Response Fund to accelerate vaccine development and support outbreak response. CEPI has committed tens of millions more to advance vaccine candidates being developed by Moderna, the University of Oxford and IAVI. The European Union has mobilized humanitarian funding and emergency supplies. The World Health Organization has activated its highest emergency response mechanisms and is coordinating clinical trials of potential treatments.
Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have some of the world's most experienced Ebola responders. Their scientists, surveillance officers, laboratory teams, community leaders and frontline health workers have repeatedly demonstrated remarkable expertise and courage under difficult circumstances
These investments are essential and deserve recognition.
But they also raise a difficult question: why did it take an outbreak to generate this level of urgency?
Scientists have understood the threat posed by Bundibugyo virus since 2007. Promising vaccine approaches have existed for years. Researchers have identified monoclonal antibodies that demonstrated protection in animal studies. Yet many of these efforts struggled to secure sustained funding once the immediate threat faded.
This is a recurring problem in global health. Funding surges during emergencies and recedes once headlines disappear. Research programs are launched and then abandoned. Preparedness becomes a priority only after vulnerabilities have already been exposed.
The result is a cycle of panic and neglect.
This is where the health equity dimension becomes impossible to ignore.
Health equity is often discussed as a moral imperative. It is that. But it is also a practical necessity.
Countries that rapidly detect outbreaks, share biological samples and alert the world to emerging threats are providing a global public good. The benefits extend far beyond national borders. Those countries should be able to expect that the products of scientific innovation—vaccines, diagnostics and treatments—will also be available to them in a timely and equitable manner.
Instead, we too often ask vulnerable countries to contribute to global security while denying them equal access to its benefits.
Preparedness Requires More Than VaccinesThe outbreak also highlights another reality that deserves greater attention: strong health systems remain the world’s best defense against emerging epidemics.
As Norway’s International Development Minister Åsmund Aukrust recently observed, “No country can face these challenges alone.” Experience from decades of global health cooperation shows that rapid detection, trained health workers, effective laboratories, community trust and resilient primary healthcare systems remain our most powerful tools against infectious disease threats.
Vaccines matter enormously. But vaccines alone are not preparedness.
The countries currently confronting Ebola understand this better than most. Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have some of the world’s most experienced Ebola responders. Their scientists, surveillance officers, laboratory teams, community leaders and frontline health workers have repeatedly demonstrated remarkable expertise and courage under difficult circumstances.
The international response succeeds when it strengthens local leadership rather than substitutes for it.
The broader lesson extends far beyond Ebola.
The next global health security emergency will begin where health systems are weakest, where surveillance gaps are largest and where scientific neglect has been allowed to persist.
The world often asks whether we can afford to invest in preparedness before a crisis occurs.
The more relevant question is whether we can afford not to.
On that test, the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak should make all of us uncomfortable.
Mario Jimenez is a health economist working to increase access to immunization in low-income countries. He is a Senior Atlantic Fellow for Health Equity.
Ifeanyi Nsofor is a public health physician and co-founder of the Africa Behavioral Science Network. He is a Senior Atlantic Fellow for Health Equity. In 2015, Ifeanyi co-led the African Union’s Intervention to End Ebola and Strengthen Health Systems in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone (ASEOWA).
– Son Excellence Naaba Koanga, Chef du Canton de Sao, province du Kourwéogo ;
– Le Tingsoaba Saaga, Chef de terre de Kinana,
– Son Excellence Naaba Sigri de Saponé,
– Les grandes familles SAWADOGO, NABOLE, SINARE et TAONSA à Kinana, Koui Ouagadougou et France,
Les familles aillées :
– ILBOUDO et DOUAMBA à Saponé et à Ouagadougou,
– SAWADOGO à Goupana et Ouagadougou,
– NITIEMA à Bingo et Ouagadougou,
– SODRE à Bobo Dioulasso,
– SAWADOGO à Ouahigouya et Ouagadougou
– SOUGUE à Boromo, Ouagadougou et France.
– SAWADOGO Lankoudougou Alfred, Conseiller d'administration scolaire et universitaire à la retraite à Tampouy/Ouagadougou.
Les enfants : Francine Prudence, Nina Jacqueline, Natacha Ghislaine, Nérée Aubin et Marina Prisca ;
Les petits enfants :
Ont la profonde douleur de vous annoncer le décès de leur épouse, fille, sœur, tante, mère et grand-mère de Mme SAWADOGO/ILBOUDO Kouliga Madeleine le dimanche 7 juin 2026 à Ouagadougou dans sa 68ème année de suite de courte maladie.
Les familles vous informent que le programme des obsèques se déroulera comme suit :
*Mercredi 10 juin 2026 :
- 20h30 : Veillée de prières au domicile familial à Tampouy sis à côté des écoles primaires publiques Tampouy C et D.
*Jeudi 11 juin 2026 :
– 6h00 : Levée du corps à la morgue du Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Yalgado Ouédraogo suivie d'un bref passage au domicile familial à Tampouy sis à côté des écoles primaires publiques Tampouy C et D.
– 08h30 : Messe d'absoute à l'Église paroissiale Saint Jean-Marie Vianney de
Tampouy.
À l'issue de la célébration, départ du cortège funèbre pour l'inhumation au village de Kinana, situé au nord de Pabré sur l'axe Tema-Bokin, à environ 50 km de Ouagadougou.
« Je suis la résurrection et la vie. Celui qui croit en moi vivra, même s'il meurt ; et quiconque vit et croit en moi ne mourra jamais. » Jean 11, verset 25
Union de prières pour le repos de son Âme. Que le Seigneur l'accueille dans sa paix et sa lumière éternelle.
Contacts pour toute fin utile : 65 86 45 45 / 54 98 47 87 / 70 68 46 36
À quelques jours du coup d’envoi de la Coupe du monde 2026, un nouveau scandale entache l’organisation de l’événement. Omar Abdulkadir Artan, 34 ans, nommé meilleur arbitre de l’année par la Confédération africaine de football (CAF) en 2025, s’apprêtait à devenir le premier Somalien à officier lors d’une phase finale.
Sélectionné après un processus rigoureux, il incarnait l’espoir d’une Somalie, 198ᵉ au classement FIFA, de briller indirectement sur la scène mondiale. Pourtant, malgré un visa en règle et un passeport diplomatique, il a été refoulé à son arrivée aux États-Unis, expédié vers Istanbul sans explication valable.
Cette décision s’inscrit dans la ligne radicale de Donald Trump contre les migrants et les pays qu’il méprise ouvertement. La Somalie, qu’il a qualifiée de « pays pourri » et de « pire pays du monde », est dans son viseur. Omar Abdulkadir Artan n’est pas rejeté pour ce qu’il a fait, mais pour ce qu’il est : un Somalien. Un acte raciste assumé, qui humilie non seulement un homme, mais également la FIFA, l’Afrique, et les valeurs mêmes du sport.
La FIFA, sous la direction de Gianni Infantino, a cédé sans protester. Une passivité qui interroge : jusqu’où iront les concessions de la FIFA pour ne pas froisser le pays hôte ? Cette soumission contraste avec des précédents où des instances sportives, comme l’UEFA sous Michel Platini, ont su imposer le respect de leurs principes.
Mon analyse dans cette vidéo.
L’article Infantino passif face au racisme de Trump est apparu en premier sur IRIS.