Run by the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation, the service at Groote Schuur Hospital seeks to help transgender and gender-diverse people who previously relied on specialised clinics that closed due to Pepfar funding cuts.

The Desmond Tutu Health Foundation (DTHF) has opened an integrated service providing gender-affirming care to transgender and gender-diverse people at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, as part of an effort to bridge the gap in health services caused by the cut in the US President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar) funding earlier this year.

The service aims to assist transgender and gender-diverse people who were accessing care at donor-funded clinics that closed due to the funding cuts. Among the services it provides are access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), antiretrovirals and hormone replacement therapy (HRT), testing for sexually transmitted infections and HIV, and psychosocial support.

"I think it's something that's quite groundbreaking and in some ways revolutionary... because of the growing backlash [against LGBTQIA+ individuals], globally and here in South Africa. And I think it's our duty, especially as clinicians, to not do any harm when it comes to transgender and gender-diverse individuals, and it's a privilege and it's an honour to be involved in this,"...