The US government is planning to cancel funding programmes in South Africa, which aim to highlight the spread of HIV and Aids.
As reported by the BBC, the country has the highest number of people living with HIV, as the number has reached over eight millions.
The US State Department allegedly took the decision after South Africa failed to protect the white-minority Afrikaner community, an allegation which has been rejected by the South African government.
Addressing the decision, South Africa's health ministry said that while the plan has not been officially announced, it had "long been working on a self-reliance plan".
Until 2025, the US was supporting South Africa's efforts to deal with the virus with an estimated $400 million a year through the President's Emergency Fund for Aids Relief (Pepfar).
However, since the inauguration of President Donald Trump, relations between the two countries have turned bitter.
Shortly after he came into office, Trump issued an executive order alleging that "countless" South African policies dismantled equal opportunities and fuelled violence "against racially disfavored landowners".
This is disputed by the South African government, which says its Black Economic Empowerment policy is needed to correct economic inequality dating from the apartheid era.
The executive order also highlighted South Africa's case against Israel at the International Court of Justice and its links to Iran.
The White House said that given these "unjust and immoral practices", further aid to South Africa would not be provided.
Pepfar funding, which had been providing about a fifth of South Africa's total spending on HIV programmes, got a reprieve last October with what was called a "bridge plan".
The decision to phase out the funding was to "foster self-reliance" and reduce dependency on American funding, the US added, pointing out that "South Africa is a middle-income country and is more than capable of supporting its own health programs".
South Africa's health ministry has said that while Pepfar contributed to the country's HIV programme, the provision of life-saving antiretroviral drugs was funded entirely separately, with most coming from the government.
