Overview
- President Cyril Ramaphosa and Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi formally launched the programme in Secunda on Friday, marking the start of coordinated national roll‑out.
- South Africa received the largest share of two million donor‑purchased doses with an allocation of 900,000 and an initial batch of about 37,920 doses arriving in April.
- Provincial phased rollouts and district distribution have begun, with Gauteng opening Lenacapavir at 133 clinics from 8 June and an initial allocation to start 18,809 people there.
- Clinical protocol requires a four‑pill oral lead‑in (two pills immediately, two after 24 hours) before six‑monthly injections, and reports indicate the drug shows near‑100% efficacy in trials.
- The programme will operate out of 360 public facilities across six provinces, aims to reach nearly 1 million people by end‑2027 and 3 million in three years, and is backed by R1.3 billion from the Global Fund and CIFF plus government funding.