Funding crisis places future of the TAC in balance - But reassures supporters "We will do all we can to keep TAC alive"
30 September 2014 - The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) takes note of media reports today that we "face closure" (see here). In response we have received many calls of support and concern. We would like to state that despite severe financial challenges, the TAC is not facing imminent closure. However if we have not raised the funding required by February 2015 we will have to make tough decisions.
The downscaling or closure of the TAC would be a major setback to our democracy and to South Africa's response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. More than ever South Africa needs well-informed, membership-based organisations to empower communities and hold government and the private sector to account to the promise of the Constitution.
People ask why we face this challenge? One reason for the funding crisis is that despite approximately 400,000 new HIV infections every year in South Africa, 170 000 AIDS-related deaths, including an estimated 88 000 deaths per year of people living with HIV due to TB alone, - the HIV epidemic is dropping down the political agenda in South Africa and internationally.
Several foreign donors are withdrawing funding for AIDS and no longer funding the TAC or other civil society organisations as they did in the past. Donors such as the United Kingdom's Department For International Development (DFID), who have been a key funder of TAC, are pulling out of South Africa due to our middle-income status. A number of funders remain committed to the TAC and are steadfast in their support of our work. However, their contributions alone are not enough.
The Board of Directors and the National Council of TAC are concerned both about the future of the TAC and the future of South Africa's AIDS response. The TAC has campaigned successfully for the last 16 years to save countless lives of people living with HIV and TB through our advocacy and human rights campaigns. We have won a number of important court victories and helped set the stage for the large-scale rollout of antiretroviral medicines in the public sector.