Some relief for health researchers
- Wits University
Council approves R22 million to assist researchers and students impacted by US funding cuts.
Wits University has made available R22 million in emergency funding to immediately support postgraduate students and key research staff in the Faculty of Health Sciences affected by the sudden termination of major international health research funding from the United States government.
It is envisaged that this emergency funding will assist approximately 75 postgraduate students to complete their degrees and will provide gap funding for key research active staff members for up to six months. During this period, researchers and the University will actively pursue alternative grant funding.
“We welcome this funding, which will go some way towards plugging a critical gap for students and staff who have been impacted by the US funding cuts,” says Prof. Lynn Morris. “However, this is just a drop in the ocean. Without intervention, Wits through its subsidiary, the Wits Health Consortium faces the retrenchment of 2,479 staff, the loss of more than R1.8 billion in potential funding, and the dismantling of vital scientific assets such as longitudinal cohorts, biobanks, global health surveillance and clinical trials platforms. We are actively seeking alternative sources of funding.”
An application to National Treasury was submitted via Universities South Africa and the Department of Higher Education and Training for an amount of approximately R1.8 billion. This is the total replacement cost of all current USG grants over the next few years. Other mitigation measures include redirecting existing funds to offset some of the immediate losses, transferring staff to other grants, using contingency funds to address immediate needs and securing new funds for postgraduate students. Staff in some research entities have reduced their working hours to cut costs.
“The crisis caused by the funding withdrawal has immediate and severe consequences not only for Wits but for South Africa’s broader health, innovation, and higher education ecosystems,” adds Morris. “The catastrophic impact of substantial financial losses, job cuts, service disruptions and programme closures are impacting severely on employees, researchers, students, and patients across the country.”
These funding cuts are as a result of the termination of 18 USAID/PEPFAR projects with a total annual value of over R230 million. Five CDC funded projects with a total annual value of over R600 million will terminate at the end September and will affect over 1 100 staff.
Many annual renewals for National Institutes for Health (NIH) funded projects are due later this year. In total, Wits has 126 NIH grants with a total annual value of over R410 million. To date, the Wits Health Consortium has received termination notices for 10 contracts. The remaining grants may be terminated before the end of this year, which unfortunately may impact hundreds of staff members many of whom hold joint appointments in the Faculty of Health Sciences and make significant contributions to the Universities research outputs.
The University is working closely with the Wits Health Consortium, Universities South Africa, research universities and entities, and other public and private networks to search for alternative funding options in the medium- to long-term.