In Harare’s crumbling outskirts, sex worker Sharon Mukakanhanga clutched a pair of baby socks — the desperate substitute she once used when condoms ran out.
“These little socks served as condoms when I became so desperate after the American government withdrew its support,” the 43-year-old said, recalling how US aid cuts gutted her trusted health clinic.
Mukakanhanga is one of thousands of sex workers left scrambling for protection since US President Donald Trump cut foreign health aid earlier this year. The move crippled HIV prevention programmes in Zimbabwe that had relied heavily on PEPFAR, Washington’s flagship HIV initiative.
Rising deaths, shrinking support
Official figures show 5,932 AIDS-related deaths in the first half of 2025, up from 5,712 a year earlier. Clinics once stocked with free condoms and antiretrovirals are now shuttered or overwhelmed.
“It was a very difficult period. I literally lost my mind,” said Cecilia Ruzvidzo, 47, an HIV-positive mother of four who left a clinic with only 10 days’ worth of antiretrovirals. “I could not get condoms… My clients were also exposed.”
Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said its remaining clinics in Harare suburbs like Mbare and Epworth are stretched to breaking point.
“They don’t know where to go,” said project lead Charlotte Pignon.
‘Serious disruption’
The scale of the fallout is stark, said Wonder Mufunda, head of the Centre for Humanitarian Analytics.
“You wake up and you have lost such funding — there were serious disruptions,” he warned, citing the $90 million once directed annually to HIV programmes out of $522 million in total US support.
Zimbabwe’s economic crisis has also forced more women into sex work, with an estimated 40,500 women nationwide. Fierce competition is driving prices down — sometimes to just 50 US cents a client, less than the cost of a condom.
“We knew it wasn’t safe,” said Ruzvidzo, of improvised alternatives like baby socks. “But I had to feed my children.”
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