Southern African countries are being urged to take stronger ownership of their HIV response as international donor funding becomes less certain, with South Africa’s Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Joe Phaahla, calling for urgent movement toward financial self-reliance at a SADC Secretariat session during the 26th International AIDS Conference in Rio de Janeiro. Speaking under the theme “Sustaining the HIV Response in Southern Africa Beyond 2030,” Phaahla warned that sustainability can no longer mean simply replacing donor money, but must involve building strong institutions, domestic financing, capable health workforces, accountable governance, community partnerships and resilient public-health systems. His message comes at a critical time for Southern Africa, where HIV programmes have saved millions of lives but remain vulnerable to funding shocks, including shrinking traditional donor streams and pressure on global health budgets. Phaahla highlighted South Africa’s National Sustainability Framework, which focuses on epidemic control, financial sustainability, service delivery, governance, community enablers and resilient health systems, arguing that the future of the region’s HIV response must be domestically led, community-driven and integrated into primary healthcare and universal health coverage. The warning is clear: if SADC wants to protect decades of progress and move closer to ending AIDS as a public-health threat, the region must strengthen local funding, regional solidarity, medicine supply chains, cross-border care and health sovereignty - not as a rejection of partnerships, but as a move toward African leadership, ownership and long-term treatment security.