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Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, South African health minister: The fight against HIV/AIDS continues.

Mayeni Jones speaks to South African health minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi about the USAID funding freeze and what progress has been made in the fight against HIV and AIDS.

鈥淓ven though we say we want to be self-sufficient, we don't think global solidarity must be dropped. Because if it gets dropped, the world will be in trouble.鈥

Mayeni Jones the 麻豆社鈥檚 Africa correspondent speaks to Dr Aaron Motsoaledi South Africa鈥檚 health minister a year on since the US announced foreign aid cuts. At the time he called the USAID freeze a wake up call for Africa.

Dr Motsoaledi, has been at the centre of South Africa鈥檚 public health response for more than a decade. A medical doctor by training, he first took on the health portfolio in 2009, overseeing the world鈥檚 largest HIV treatment programme.

In this conversation he explains how the country is filling the aid gap and where progress stands in the fight against HIV and AIDS.

The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the 麻豆社, including episodes with Syria鈥檚 only female cabinet minister, Hind Kabawat, Ugandan human rights lawyer Nicholas Opiyo and Mexican actor, Diego Calva. You can listen on the 麻豆社 World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on 麻豆社 Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presenter: Mayeni Jones
Producers: Ed Habershon, Farhana Haider
Editor: Justine Lang

Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterview麻豆社 on social media.

(Image: Dr Aaron Motsoaledi Credit: PHILL MAGAKOE/AFP via Getty Images)

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Mon 9 Feb 2026 23:06GMT

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