Honourable Premier of Gauteng, Ms Nomvula Mokonyane
Members of the Mayoral Committees for Health present
Members of the Gauteng AIDS Council and its constituent structures
Leaders of Faith Based Organisations
Representatives of Traditional Leaders
Representatives of Traditional Healers
Representatives of the South African Business Coalition against AIDS
Representatives of AMAHA
Our Esteemed Partners representing different sectors
Ladies and Gentlemen.
World AIDS Day marks a major milestone in the history of our caring and responsive government. It is on this day that we recommit ourselves to work tirelessly to achieve the goals of our National Strategic Plan for HIV and AIDS.
We also recommit ourselves to strengthen our efforts and leadership, commitment, and accountability in the response to the spread of HIV and AIDS.
We are also reminded to keep the pledges we made in the past sixteen years of our democracy. We also recommit ourselves to voluntarily test for HIV in order to know our status and take appropriate measures depending on test results.
As government we commit ourselves to extend a helping hand to those who need care and support, to children in need of care and support, and to vulnerable women, people living with disabilities and the aged in our communities.
There is no one among us who has not been affected by the scourge of HIV and AIDS. All of us have family, friends and colleagues who have HIV or have been sick with TB or AIDS.
Some of us have lost people who were close to us and have ended up helping to raise children who have lost a mother or father to AIDS.
On this World AIDS Day, we remember the personal losses we have experienced from the epidemic and recognise the contributions made by all of you as families, friends, carers, community organisations, business, labour and government employees.
Statistics attest that 1 in 8 adults (13%) in Gauteng are living with HIV but nearly one in three (29%) pregnant women has HIV.
Since we launched the mass testing HIV Testing campaign in April 2010 in Gauteng, 3, 1 million people have come forward to be tested for HIV.
Programme Director;
I am pleased to report that since the President announced that a change in Management, Treatment and Care for people with HIV, we in Gauteng have managed to reduce transmission of HIV from Mother to Child from 5, 6% in 2009/10 to 2, 3% in 2010/11.
Our efforts to encourage pregnant women to test for HIV have resulted in an uptake of 98% in all of our health facilities with ante-natal- care services.
Indeed we are now witnessing notable reduction in deaths of babies, mothers and adults due to better treatment- but more can still be done.
In order to prevent new HIV infections we have scaled up our Male Medical Circumcision programme.
More and more young and adult males are coming forward to access this service.
When we launched this programme last year only 16 783 males were circumcised at our facilities, whereas between April and June this year we had already circumcised 35 088 males at our facilities.
I take this opportunity to encourage males to come forward to our designated facilities to be circumcised as this procedure minimises chances of HIV infection.
With regard to Anti-Retroviral Treatment, by the end of October 2011, we had expanded this programme to 331 public health facilities which is an increase from 79 at the end of March 2010.
This has resulted in an increase in the number of people who are enrolled for Anti-Retroviral Treatment. This number currently stands at 501 426 (including 21 794 children). This is arguably the highest number of people on treatment in the whole country.
Programme Director;
The figures and statistics I have just referred to indicate that a lot of work is done in the Comprehensive, Care, Management and Treatment of HIV. However, all of this good work will be in vain if we do not reduce new infections.
Therefore it is very important that we should get tested regularly and take our loved ones along. Testing and early diagnosis helps to take appropriate action depending on your results and status.
If someone is ill, I plead with them not to wait until it is too late. Take action – talk to the person and involve their family or close friends. If we start treatment on time we can save lives.
If people come to us when they are already very ill, it may be too late. We have trained nurses to provide anti-retroviral treatment (ART) and more than half of government clinics in Gauteng provide Anti-retroviral-treatment.
Government is committed to ensure that pregnant women should not die from HIV and AIDS and babies should not become infected with HIV. The first course of action for everyone is to practice safe sex, and avoid multiple partners.
If you are already pregnant, please come to our antenatal clinics – don’t wait. We want to see you at our clinics at three months of pregnancy so that we can control complications which might arise.
Early treatment for mothers will stop unnecessary deaths and protect the baby from HIV infection.
Pregnant women who are infected with HIV get treatment and follow up to protect their health so that the baby is born healthy and HIV free.
Programme Director;
Babies grow better on breastfeeding and breast milk reduces all kinds of illnesses in babies. As a result, it is now government policy that mothers who are HIV positive should breastfeed their babies.
We will continue to provide Nevirapine to breastfed babies to protect them from HIV infection through breast milk. Mothers need to breastfeed for six months and not mix breast and milk formula. Mixing breastfeeding and milk formula increases chances of HIV infection in babies.
In unfortunate circumstances where babies get infected with HIV, we start treatment with Anti-Retroviral Treatment straight away. We have evidence that HIV infected babies can grow up normally while taking Anti-Retroviral- Treatment.
Programme Director;
I take this opportunity to plead with families of people who are on Anti-Retroviral –Treatment to support them. They need your support to live normal lives.
Scores of people who were on their death beds are up and about as I speak.
They have returned to work and continue to be productive members of society. This was possible because they complied with their treatment regimen.
I also plead with people who are on Anti-Retroviral Treatment to take responsibility and look after their health. Even if the viral load in your body is undetectable, continue practising safe sex. If you don’t, you run the risk of re-infection with multiple strains of HIV.
We are proud d of the progress made in our fight against HIV and AIDS. The statistics that were released by the Minister of Health yesterday indicate that deaths due to HIV and AIDS have been reduced by a whopping 21% since 2005.
This is a clear indication that the interventions that we embarked on since April 2004, are beginning to bear fruit. The challenge that still faces us is that of reducing new infections.
The message of: Abstain, be faithful and condomise, remains as relevant as ever.
Before I take my seat, allow me Programme Director; to re-iterate the call that I made at the beginning of this speech. We all know that there is no cure for HIV and AIDS yet, therefore, prevention remains paramount. I therefore urge everybody to go for HIV tests regularly in order to determine what steps to take if they discover that they are HIV positive.
If you have tested negative, strive to remain negative. I urge all sectors, to continue working together with government to conquer HIV and AIDS.
I thank you.
