Semafor reports:

US President Donald Trump’s administration plans to permanently end funding for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, in South Africa, according to a State Department official and two congressional aides briefed on the decision.

“The United States has decided to initiate a phased drawdown of PEPFAR programming in South Africa following South Africa’s failure to make demonstrable progress on policy requests by the administration,” the State Department official told Semafor. US Ambassador Leo Brent Bozell III [photo] is expected to meet with officials from South Africa’s Ministry of Health as soon as next week to deliver the news.

PEPFAR has provided over $8 billion to South Africa since its founding under President George W. Bush. South Africa has about 8 million people living with HIV, the most in the world.

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