Shortages of essential drugs are a systemic problem in South Africa, where 18.5% of adults are living with HIV.

The Stop Stock Outs Project (SSP) is a coalition of civil society organisations in South Africa, including MSF that mobilizes activists and people living with HIV or TB to record and report occurrences of drug shortages in the country. (http://www.stockouts.org)

SSP has undertaken two national surveys in 2013 and 2014 showing that shortages of essential medicine is a systemic problem that threatens the progress made against HIV in South Africa and puts the health and lives of potentially millions in jeopardy. By recording occurrences of stock outs and constructively engaging with local and national authorities the SSP aims at spurring government to take actions to solve the problem of stock outs in the name of public good.

Mid-2015 about 3 million South African were taking antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) to protect their bodies against the HIV virus, making the South African ARV program the largest in the world. ARVs need to be taken daily and for life to avoid illness, death and built-up resistance. Additionally, about 300.000 patients in the country need tuberculosis treatment, the most common opportunistic infection and leading cause of death for HIV patients.