Trump Ends Sas Hiv And Tb Research Grants
Cancellation letters, which end billions of rands of South African universities US-government funded HIV and TB research grants with immediate effect, started to roll in over the weekend and according to one affected researcher its anticipated that over 300 such grants will be ended, holding massive implications for tertiary learning and research institutions, such as substantive job losses.
Some experts estimate that as much as 70 of South Africas medical research, or up to 400-million about R7.2-billion when both direct and subgrants are considered for the past financial year, is funded through the National Institutes of Health NIH, which is made up of 27 institutes and centres that each focuses on a specific area of research. The NIH finances about three-quarters of biomedical research worldwide.
On Friday evening, the University of the Witwatersrands Wits Health Consortium , the unit through which the institution runs its clinical trials and donor-funded projects, received cancellation letters for all components of a grant of 2.5-million about R460-million, which ends in November 2027. The grant was awarded through the NIHs National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases .
Cancellation letters, sent on behalf of the chief grants management officer of USAid, Emily Linde, seem to be standard and tell researchers that they do nothing to expand our knowledge of living systems, provide low returns on investment, and ultimately do not enhance health, lengthen life, or reduce illness and accuse them of harming the health of Americans.
The Wits project was run by chief investigators Helen Rees, the head of the Wits Reproductive Health Institute , and Ian Sanne, heading the Clinical HIV Research Unit, who now also works for the international development group, Palladium as its chief medical officer .
