‘Assault on science’ — SA researchers warn that US funding cuts hinder global medical advancement

South African scientist, epidemiologist and Director of Centre for the Aids Programme of Research (CAPRISA), Professor Salim Abdool Karim. (Photo: Dean Demos)

By Tamsin Metelerkamp

20 Mar 2025

As uncertainty builds around the future of funding for South African medical research through the US National Institutes of Health, local scientists are speaking out about the importance of their work for combatting health threats both in Africa and across the globe.

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South Africa has long served as a hub for health research on the African continent, making important contributions to medical advancement not only for the country, but for the global community. However, local researchers warn that recent severe cuts in funding from the United States could place this “thriving research enterprise” at risk.

Professor Ntobeko Ntusi, president and CEO of the South African Medical Research Council, said that the rapid withdrawal of funding resulting from US President Donald Trump’s executive orders to halt foreign aid had allowed “almost no opportunity for mitigation” in the South African health sector.

“Many scientists may lose jobs. Many may choose to emigrate, and many… young scientists may lose faith in science as a professional endeavour,” he said.

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“If we are not able to act to fill the void of this withdrawal of funds, we are likely to see both the derailing and the reversal of the many gains achieved in South Africa’s hard-won fight against both HIV and TB, and this is likely to have a huge impact on HIV prevention… but also research and development for vaccines for HIV and TB.”

Ntusi was speaking at an event hosted by the Academy of Science of South Africa on Wednesday, 19 March 2025, aimed at exploring the implications of US funding cuts for research in South Africa.

Read more: ‘The axe has fallen’ — Trump’s USAid issues notices to terminate funding for key health programmes across SA

In late February, the United States Agency for International Development (USAid) issued notices to its implementing partners in South Africa terminating all funding, including aid provided through the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar).

More recently, researchers funded by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) have been warned that their grants for clinical studies may be cancelled in the near future.

“Almost a third of our contract income as the South African Medical Research Council comes from the National Institutes of Health for this current financial year, and so this is an area of great concern,” said Ntusi. He added that almost 200 staff at the medical research foundation were supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Amongst our staff, there have been very high levels of anxiety, and as the rumours are swirling around uncertainty about the future of these programmes in South Africa, we’ve had to contend with the psychological stress of our workforce,” he said.

Clinical studies stalled

The cut in USAid funding has already brought several medical research projects in South Africa to a screeching halt.

Professor Glenda Gray, a South African physician and scientist specialising in the care of children and HIV medicine, spoke of her work at the Brilliant Consortium, where a R1-billion US grant had allowed them to set up an eight-country programme to do HIV vaccine research and expand laboratory capability across Africa.

“It’s allowed us to direct immunogen design… and vaccine manufacturing, as well as the pre-clinical and clinical testing. We were just about to go into our first in-Africa (vaccine) study at the end of January, when we were terminated,” she said.

Physician and scientist Professor Glenda Gray. (Photo: Gallo Images / Die Burger / Jaco Marais)

Another USAid-supported project that saw its funding terminated was Matrix, a programme that aimed to advance the research and development of innovative HIV prevention products for women, said Professor Thesla Palanee-Phillips, a South African medical scientist.

“The vision and mission of Matrix… was to bring acceptable, affordable, scalable and deliverable HIV prevention and... multipurpose prevention technologies to those that needed it the most,” said Palanee-Phillips.

“We had active early phase trials in implementation, so it was quite devastating to have to shut the trials down overnight and to lose the support to advance science and development in our region.”

Gray described the recent developments around medical research funding as an “assault on science” that targeted not only Africa, but also programmes in the US.

“I do think that this assault on science is universal, and I think we need to make sure that we can… work in a diplomatic fashion to find ways and solutions to make sure that science continues to flourish in our country, on our continent and in the United States of America,” she said.

Filling the void

Ntusi acknowledged a need for the South African scientific community to continue engaging with the US, as it remained a “major player” in the global health space.

“Many of our collaborators and partners in the US have repeatedly expressed their solidarity in the past six weeks, but feel powerless and overwhelmed with the current situation,” he said.

“They face as many threats to their own livelihoods and existence as we are facing in South Africa and other parts of the world.”

The medical research sector needed to “diversify” its sources of funding, looking to Europe, Asia, the South African private sector and philanthropic organisations for support, said Ntusi.

South African scientist and epidemiologist Professor Salim Abdool Karim. (Photo: Dean Demos)

“I think we’ve all seen what the risks of over-reliance on a single funder can be,” he said. “I also think that this current moment of difficulty presents us with an opportunity to build efficiencies in our system for how we optimally use resources… The first thing to look at is how we bring research activity much closer alongside clinical activity, but also the integration of clinical care of infectious diseases with non-communicable diseases.”

Professor Salim Abdool Karim, a clinical infectious diseases epidemiologist, noted that the National Institutes of Health contributed between $100-million and $150-million a year to medical research in South Africa.

“That’s far more than what our government contributes. Even if our government doubles what it provides, it can’t be met,” he said.

The US funding cut presented an opportunity to build solidarity within the medical research sector, while seeking “a whole new world of funding opportunities” outside South Africa’s borders, said Karim.

“We are collaborating with people across all continents. One of the things to do is to firstly, inform our colleagues, if they’re not aware, of the challenges we face that are unique to South Africa… Society is not standing on its own, but many scientists from many countries are trying to be part of the solutions,” he said. DM

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Clinical studies stalled

Filling the void