South African expert Professor Helen Rees was one of six global public health champions celebrated at the recent World Health Assembly.
Rees was named the recipient of the prestigious Dr Lee Jong-wook Memorial Prize in recognition of her contributions to global health.
Health-e News spoke with Rees about the significance of receiving a lifetime achievement award, key milestones in her career, and the challenges of cuts to internal funding for health programmes.
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What does receiving this prize mean to you?
Dr Lee Jong-wook was a former Director-General of the World Health Organization who died in office, but his legacy was extraordinary.
He dedicated his life to improving health outcomes for the poorest communities and played a central role in expanding access to antiretroviral treatment for HIV.
Receiving a prize in his name is a tremendous personal honour, it’s a lifetime award that recognises the global impact of my work in public health.
But it’s also a proud moment for South Africa. It shows the world that we have exceptional scientists whose work is making a global difference.
Looking back, which moments stand out most in your journey?
One of the defining moments of my career was in 1994, when I established a research unit at the University of the Witwatersrand focused on reproductive health and HIV, known as Wits RHI.
Before that, I worked in clinics in Alexandra Township as a paediatrician.
Founding the unit launched my research career, and soon after, being appointed chair of the Medicines Control Council marked the beginning of my policy and regulatory work, both nationally and internationally.
Later, I was also honoured to serve as Chair of the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation for the World Health Organization, which expanded my experience in global immunisation strategy.
Each of these roles shaped a different part of my journey.
The recognition comes at a time when Wits RHI is grappling with funding cuts. What’s the impact on your programmes and research?
We’ve been affected in two major ways.
Firstly, we’ve been running large PEPFAR-supported programmes that assist the Department of Health in delivering HIV and TB services. These have been significantly impacted, with staff losses and a reduction in direct support to the department. We are now working with the department on a transitional plan, but it’s going to be difficult.
Vulnerable communities, what we call key populations, have already lost access to vital services. These include sex workers, transgender communities, and men who have sex with men, across the country. These groups face high HIV and TB risk, and the sudden loss of services is a serious concern.
On the research side, the impact is equally profound.
Second, Wits RHI, like many institutions, relies heavily on U.S. government funding for cutting-edge research, that includes not only HIV and TB but also non-communicable diseases. These partnerships, built over years, with trusted U.S. academic collaborators, have come to a halt.
Yet health research remains essential for South Africa and the broader region.
We are now focused on engaging new donors, identifying alternative funding streams, and realigning our research agenda with both national and regional priorities, while also responding to global health challenges.
How sustainable is the current donor model for public health research and service delivery in Africa?
That’s a question the entire African region is now asking.
For a long time, donor support, especially from high-income countries, was invaluable. But it was never a sustainable model.
Health service delivery is ultimately the responsibility of governments, and South Africa acknowledges that. However, in many lower-income countries across the continent, it’s still an enormous challenge to fully fund essential health services.
I don’t believe the answer is to withdraw donor funding. Instead, we need a smarter, more strategic approach, continuing support while reprioritising which programmes and which countries are most in need.
For countries like South Africa, there’s an expectation to self-fund most services. On the research side, however, collaboration across borders remains critical. Health challenges like pandemics, TB, HIV, or non-communicable diseases require multi-country studies and shared solutions.
How will funding cuts impact Africa’s ambition to manufacture its vaccines and pharmaceuticals?
There will certainly be an impact. Take, for instance, the rollout of lenacapavir, a promising twice-yearly injectable PrEP drug that could revolutionise HIV prevention.
It’s incredibly effective, and we had plans, backed by co-funding, including U.S. support to scale it across the region.
That plan is now uncertain, and it’s a major loss.
More broadly, we risk setbacks in access to HIV, TB, and malaria medications, as well as diagnostic tools.
The withdrawal of U.S. funding creates an urgent question: how do we sustain access without this long-standing support?
However, when it comes to vaccine and therapeutic manufacturing, there is still momentum.
The African Union remains committed, and other funding sources are still on the table.
That ambition, to manufacture our vaccines and medicines will persist, even in the face of donor cuts.
What’s your message to global donors and policymakers about the importance of continued investment in African-led health research institutions like Wits RHI?
Research is fundamental to every country’s development, whether high or low income. Health care is expensive.
Even wealthy nations struggle to fund it effectively.
That’s why innovation is essential. We need new tools, treatments, and delivery models that improve efficiency and outcomes.
African institutions like Wits RHI have demonstrated that they can lead world-class research and deliver real-world solutions.
We are part of a global ecosystem.
Whether it’s vaccines, diagnostics, or strategies to improve care delivery, these advances benefit everyone.
Continued investment in African-led research is not just support, it’s smart, forward-thinking global collaboration. – Health-e News
