This, as the Stop Stockouts Project (SSP) – a consortium of civil society organisations that monitors medicines' availability in healthcare facilities in South Africa - confirms that the country is still experiencing a shortage of the DT (Diphteria and Tetanus) vaccine. These vaccines are critical to help with the building of antibodies in children. The consortium says a number of public healthcare facilities are currently running on a buffer stock, and that the current supply in most facilities does not meet the demand, similarly with the availability of ARVs across many provinces. The provinces of Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Eastern Cape and the Free State are amongst those with enormous shortages.

This, despite the Washington University’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation’s study, which revealed that 5.3 million South Africans under the age of 50 are HIV-positive. The study, which focused on people living with the virus across 46 African countries, indicated that the provinces of Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Free State have the highest number of HIV infected people, yet a report by the SSP indicates that these provinces are amongst those suffering from the shortage of HIV treatment and other critical medication.

The SSP, dedicated to assisting thousands of people whose lives are threatened by the chronic shortages of essential medicines in South Africa, says the situation is reaching a critical state.

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