For more than two decades, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has played a vital role in South Africa's fight against HIV/AIDS. Created under President George W. Bush and sustained with broad bipartisan support, PEPFAR helped drive new HIV infections in South Africa down dramatically. Global Camps Africa believes the reduction and elimination of PEPFAR support in South Africa is a serious mistake that puts hard-won progress at risk. We support bipartisan efforts to restore this life-saving funding. 

Global Camps Africa has always worked alongside, not in place of, South Africa's clinical health system. As outside funding for that system has receded, community-based mentorship, life skills education, psychosocial support, and stigma-free spaces have become even more important in helping young people stay connected to HIV prevention, care, and treatment. South Africa's government funds the majority of the national HIV response and has committed additional domestic resources, but independent modeling suggests that the remaining funding gap could contribute to well over 100,000 additional HIV infections by 2028. 

While we support efforts to restore PEPFAR funding, the needs facing young people cannot wait. GCA is working with our South African partners to strengthen resilient, community-based programming for vulnerable young people, including girls, orphans, LGBTQ+ youth, and adolescents living with HIV. When our Financial Literacy and Entrepreneurship Program lost its PEPFAR-supported funding in February 2025, private donors helped us fill the gap, allowing the program to continue without interruption. We are now expanding our programming to help meet growing unmet needs. 

The loss of longstanding public funding makes private support more important, not less. Your gifts help keep mentors trained, camps and youth programs running, and young people connected to the skills, care, and community they need to build healthy futures. GCA will continue to advocate for the restoration of effective, bipartisan global HIV support while doing everything we can today to protect South Africa's young people and the progress made over the past two decades.