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To mark the 25th annual World Aids Day on Sunday, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe – who is also the chairperson of the National Aids Council – and Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi, re-launched the country’s HIV counselling and testing campaign in Piet Retief in Mpumalanga.
Over 20-million people have been tested since the campaign was launched in 2010. According to the National Aids Council, the country has six-million people living with HIV, a third of whom are on treatment. In 2012, there were an estimated 370 000 new HIV infections and 240 000 Aids deaths. South Africa has the biggest HIV treatment programme in the world, with about 2.4-million people on treatment.
Also part of the day’s events was the drive for men to get circumcised. Studies have shown that medical circumcision – the removal of the entire foreskin – reduces a heterosexual male's risk of contracting HIV by up to 60%. More than one million men between the ages of 15 and 49 have been circumcised since the government launched medical circumcision as part of its HIV prevention efforts in 2010.
However, the Treatment Action Campaign – an HIV activist organisation – says government efforts to curb the scourge of HIV are being undermined by a shortage of medicines and mismanagement. The group accuses provincial MECs of failing to live up to national commitments. The organisation planned a silent march in Piet Retief on Sunday.
"We feel attention must be drawn to the serious problems in the health system in the area. It will not help people to know their status if they cannot get access to ARV treatment, counselling or quality healthcare," the organisation said in a statement. "We cannot celebrate while clinics do not have stock of essential HIV and TB medicines, while hospitals run out of food and important equipment."
Last week, a report by the pressure group Stop Stock Outs Project said that at least one in every five public health facilities have run out of HIV or TB medication. The project, which consists of Section27, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the Treatment Action Campaign, said the drug shortages have become a national crisis.
Over 20-million people have been tested since the campaign was launched in 2010. According to the National Aids Council, the country has six-million people living with HIV, a third of whom are on treatment. In 2012, there were an estimated 370 000 new HIV infections and 240 000 Aids deaths. South Africa has the biggest HIV treatment programme in the world, with about 2.4-million people on treatment.
Also part of the day’s events was the drive for men to get circumcised. Studies have shown that medical circumcision – the removal of the entire foreskin – reduces a heterosexual male's risk of contracting HIV by up to 60%. More than one million men between the ages of 15 and 49 have been circumcised since the government launched medical circumcision as part of its HIV prevention efforts in 2010.
However, the Treatment Action Campaign – an HIV activist organisation – says government efforts to curb the scourge of HIV are being undermined by a shortage of medicines and mismanagement. The group accuses provincial MECs of failing to live up to national commitments. The organisation planned a silent march in Piet Retief on Sunday.
"We feel attention must be drawn to the serious problems in the health system in the area. It will not help people to know their status if they cannot get access to ARV treatment, counselling or quality healthcare," the organisation said in a statement. "We cannot celebrate while clinics do not have stock of essential HIV and TB medicines, while hospitals run out of food and important equipment."
Last week, a report by the pressure group Stop Stock Outs Project said that at least one in every five public health facilities have run out of HIV or TB medication. The project, which consists of Section27, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the Treatment Action Campaign, said the drug shortages have become a national crisis.
Happily there is some good news for some :
World Aids Day 2013: 'I am no longer planning for my funeral’
When Gloria Ncanywa was told she was HIV positive she thought her life was over, yet 12 years on she is alive and bringing hope to fellow sufferers
It was a sunny, hot day in Cape Town. I was pregnant with my second son and had gone for my antenatal care to my local clinic in Khayelitsha. One of the doctors said to the women in the waiting room, “Anyone want to come and do an HIV test?” Some hesitated, but I said yes at once because I knew I wasn’t HIV positive. I wasn’t sleeping around. I only had one partner.
Before they did the test, they asked me all sorts of questions, and were filling in forms. I can still hear myself saying to them, “You don’t need to ask me all these questions. I know I am HIV negative. I just want to be sure.”
So they took blood and I went to wait outside. This was in 2001 and I was 27. There were other women there very upset and worried. I was the one comforting them. And then I was called back. “Unfortunately,” the doctor said, “you are HIV positive.” It was as if the world had turned round and upside down all at once. Everything turned dark.
When I got home, I told my husband that I had Aids. I didn’t say HIV positive because I didn’t know then that there was any difference. He just said, “fine”. That was all. Nothing more. He was a taxi driver and I knew he had been cheating on me for a long time.
When Gloria Ncanywa was told she was HIV positive she thought her life was over, yet 12 years on she is alive and bringing hope to fellow sufferers
It was a sunny, hot day in Cape Town. I was pregnant with my second son and had gone for my antenatal care to my local clinic in Khayelitsha. One of the doctors said to the women in the waiting room, “Anyone want to come and do an HIV test?” Some hesitated, but I said yes at once because I knew I wasn’t HIV positive. I wasn’t sleeping around. I only had one partner.
Before they did the test, they asked me all sorts of questions, and were filling in forms. I can still hear myself saying to them, “You don’t need to ask me all these questions. I know I am HIV negative. I just want to be sure.”
So they took blood and I went to wait outside. This was in 2001 and I was 27. There were other women there very upset and worried. I was the one comforting them. And then I was called back. “Unfortunately,” the doctor said, “you are HIV positive.” It was as if the world had turned round and upside down all at once. Everything turned dark.
When I got home, I told my husband that I had Aids. I didn’t say HIV positive because I didn’t know then that there was any difference. He just said, “fine”. That was all. Nothing more. He was a taxi driver and I knew he had been cheating on me for a long time.
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One of those precious poly moments...
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