In an sunshine hut on the outskirts of Maseru, the capital of Lesotho, 34 -year -old Leaktseng Lucia Tajatji is sitting on a tin wall under a black cloth and embossed with a lion’s head.
On its left, a wooden table is weighed by containers of roots, powder and dried herbs, now he provides HIV patients who are cut off from significant drugs in February after the assistance of US President Donald Trump.
“I am a traditional doctor or a witch doctor,” Tajatji said, his voice is stable. “I have helped people. More and more are coming.”
According to government data, they are frustrated by a nation buffed with poverty and is stuck with one of the four adults living with a virus with one of the highest HIV rates in the world.
Tajatji is also HIV positive. A registered traditional healer and fashion designer, she believes that doctors questioned the efficacy of the treatments that she urges on Antiretroviral (ARV), who do not mix their drugs with anything, which has not been clinically tested.
But he has taken dedication since 2003 with the ARV supplied by the government, now limited to three months refill due to Trump’s cut-no more guarantee, Tajatji has been left with some options.
“I don’t want to die. I am very young and I don’t want to die,” he told AFP.
‘Overall health’
Traditional physicians, known as Sangoma, are honored by many in Southern Africa for their treatment abilities and their spiritual guidance.
Many Sangoma once saw HIV as a curse from the world of soul, assuming that patients were surrounded. Some also claimed that they could fix AIDS.
New doctors such as Tjatji, go through long initiation and training, allow them to administer the treatments passed through generations.
MPHO Robert Masso, director of South African -based African National Heels Association, said that it is natural for people to move to the traditional system established over time, with USAID cuts out of access to modern medicine.
“Traditional medicine plays an important role in overall health and well -being of the community,” Masso, also a traditional therapist said, said to AFP.
At the same time, he said, antiretroviral therapy is “the most effective way to suppress HIV.”
Uncontrolled profit
Since 2016, Lesotho – A small mountainous state surrounded by South Africa – HIV funding from Washington has received more than $ 850 million.
Support came through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (Pepfar), which was the primary program of the US government to combat HIV.
After a complete stop in February, according to the United Nations AIDS agency, only 28 percent of Pepfar support resumed in Lesotho by mid -March.
It was abolished about half-funded programs, which includes pre-exposure prophylaxis or prevention of HIV through male circumcision.
The cash-stapped Health Ministry is ill for filling the gap.
Health Minister Celebrate Mochaoborone told Parliament in March that the budget of 2.4 billion Maloti ($ 127 million) for the 2025–26 financial year did not take into consideration any American pullback with its foreign aid commitments.
‘Ineffective treatment’
Experts are concerned that turning to alternative measures may lead to progress in fighting HIV in Lesotho, which had achieved the target of 90 percent of the United Nations’s “90-90-90” five years ago, with which the virus was being diagnosed with, he had achieved treatment and viral suppression.
“I am quite worried,” said Jessica Justman, Senior Technical Director at ICAP, a global health center at Columbia University, New York.
“Using ineffective treatment is equivalent to not taking any treatment,” he said. It opens people living with HIV for opportunistic infections such as TB, meningitis and pneumonia.
Nevertheless, Masondo emphasizes, traditional methods can offer relief.
“Traditional treatment is not only about herbs; it is a holistic, comprehensive approach that strengthens the body, mind and soul,” he said.
“The ultimate or real danger itself is not a traditional treatment, it is wrong information,” he said.
In the hut working as her consultation room, Tajatji said that she fears that alternative drugs may not help her as her system may be accustomed to regular antiretroviral treatment.
His main concern is that HIV will open him in a new TB match, wondering if his government can find a way to help in front of the clear American apathy.
“Maybe Lesotho will create a difference and create pills for us.”
(This story is not edited by NDTV employees and auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
