President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Thursday that government is committed to garnering global health financing amid the withdrawal of overseas development assistance on initiatives supporting health service delivery and health systems in many parts of the world.

Ramaphosa was delivering the closing address at the G20 Social Summit, in Boksburg, where he expressed concern about cuts to health financing.

Earlier this year, an Executive Order by US President Donald Trump saw health aid to South Africa significantly reduced, which led to a freeze on funding for programmes such as HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis.

On Thursday, the US government announced the donation of only 500 doses each of the HIV prevention medication Lenacapavir (LEN-LA) for Eswatini and Zambia, excluding South Africa, ahead of World Aids Day on December 1.

Ramaphosa said the deliberations at the G20 Social Summit had called for prioritisation of the health and wellbeing of women and children, and for greater representation of women in society.

“Gone are the days when women are relegated to the back of everything that happens in society.

“…we should be actually saying, this is the century of women. Women must take their rightful place, in playing a key role in the affairs of the world,” he said.

He reiterated that societies rooted in equality could not be built unless those societies upheld the rights of women and girls.

“Sustainable societies are those that recognise, value and compensate the labour and economic contribution of women. No society can thrive for as long as gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) continue and the agency of women is denied,” he said.

Non-profit organisation Women for Change has called for a nationwide symbolic shutdown on Friday to raise awareness of GBVF.

Ramaphosa said government has declared GBVF a national crisis.

“We have agreed, among all social partners, that we need to take extraordinary and concerted action – using every means at our disposal – to end this crisis,” he said.

He highlighted that the violence perpetrated by men against women erodes the social fabric of nations, and imposes a burden that constrained development and weakened inclusive growth.

“Men and boys are critical partners in transforming harmful norms and advancing gender justice. They must be actively involved in challenging inherited attitudes, power imbalances and social structures that normalise violence and silence survivors,” Ramaphosa stated.

The deliberations at the Social Summit had culminated in calls for greater political commitment to advancing young people’s access to opportunities, he added, with calls for more resources to be devoted to eliminating child poverty and hunger and to ensure that children were protected.

“The progressive deliberations at this Social Summit have culminated in calls for greater political commitment to advancing young people’s access to opportunities,” he said.