Programme Director,
Deputy Minister of Social Development, Mama Maria Ntuli,
MEC for Social Development in the Northern Cape, Mr Alvin Botes,
Mayors and councillors present,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
We meet here exactly a day after citizens of the world commemorated the World Aids Day on the 1st of December.
This remains an important day in our national calendar, to create consciousness among South Africans about the need for all of us to take responsibility.
All sectors of our society need to work hard against HIV and AIDS, in line with the position of the UNAIDS which emphasises the importance of strengthening efforts towards zero new infections, zero discrimination and zero deaths as a result of this pandemic.
Just yesterday, government took the fight against HIV and AIDS to greater heights through the launch of the National Strategic Plan (NSP) for 2012 – 2016 by President Jacob Zuma in Port Elizabeth. In particular, the President made a commitment to the nation that the Department of Social Development will do everything possible to support orphans and vulnerable children as well as child-headed households to mitigate the impact of the pandemic.
Indeed, we will move in this direction guided by the new plan, especially its first strategic objective which is "to address social and structural barriers to HIV, STI and TB prevention, care and impact. We believe that this plan will bring significant changes in the incidence and prevalence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), HIV and tuberculosis (TB).
More specifically, government hopes to meet the following five goals in the next five years:
- To halve the number of new HIV infections;
- To ensure that at least 80% of people who are eligible for HIV treatment receive it.
- To halve the number of new TB infections and deaths from TB; to ensure that the rights of people living with HIV are protected; and
- To halve stigma related to HIV and TB.
Research shows that South Africa has the third largest level of TB in the world after India and China. It further reveals that new infections increased by 400% over the past 15 years, reaching 970 new infections per 100 000 people in 2009. The highest prevalence of TB infection is among people in age group 30-39 years living in townships and informal settlements. This confirms the fact that TB is a disease that mostly affects poorer communities disproportionately.
In respect of HIV prevalence, it is estimated that more than 5, 3 million people live with HIV. This is a worrying figure given that we are a nation of about 50, 6 million people. The work that all of us undertake towards prevention must seek to achieve the goal of halving new infections in the next five years, including among men who have sex with men.
I have the privilege of serving as the Co-Chair of the International Advisory Group in HIV and AIDS. In one of our meetings this year, we made an observation that "prevention has fallen dangerously behind treatment because the causes of new infections, which are sexuality, gender inequalities, socio-economic disparities and drug use - are hard to talk about, and hard to change".
I recall this observation to emphasise the need for society to deal with the stigma associated with HIV and AIDS. Stigma around these issues continues to make it difficult for people to get support or services that can help in the prevention of new infections.
The NSP calls on us to reinforce community systems to expand access to services. It also urges us to support efforts aimed at strengthening poverty reduction and food security programmes to deal with extreme hunger and poverty as some of the driving factors with the potential to sustain the pandemic.
Taking the lead from President Zuma’s announcement yesterday, the Department of Social Development is convinced that in order to develop effective strategies that seek to improve the quality of life of people, we should build on the capacity and expertise which people have in dealing with challenges that affect them. People in communities are perceived as experts in taking charge of their own lives. We want to allow them a more central role in the fight against the HIV pandemic to ensure that skills and knowledge are generated to create an open and safe environment that allows them to make appropriate decisions about their behaviour and sexual health.
It is in light of this that the Department of Social Department has planned to conduct community dialogues or community conversations to generate an understanding of and to identify sustainable solutions to the major drivers and determinants of the HIV pandemic, in particular gender and gender-based violence. This approach will allow for development of a social behaviour change agenda by generating knowledge to reduce risky sexual behaviours with the view of reducing HIV incidence.
The dialogues will engage community leadership, community structures, faith-based organisations, non-governmental-organisations and women organisations. The process will also include the current HIV Counselling and Testing (HCT) campaign which promotes knowing one’s status. The tests will include not only HIV but other health conditions where various tests such as Glucose, Blood Pressure are done simultaneously with the HIV test thereby discouraging stigma and discrimination as all these diseases are not discriminatory.
It is highly important for us to deal with the social problems facing our people, especially as they have an impact on the fight against the scourge. We must address the social and structural factors that drive this pandemic, as well as elements that influence the impact of the scourge, and the aspects that affect the way we care for the affected people. This means that we must address the social, economic and behavioural drivers of HIV, STIs and TB.
These include dealing with challenges that have to do with access to social services in informal settlements, rural and remote areas. It also means that we have to develop plans that address the vulnerability of migrant and mobile populations as well as deal with the challenge of alcohol and substance abuse. We have already started implementing a programme of action on anti-substance abuse.
The South African Health Information network, using research done by the Medical Research Council, indicates that alcohol intoxication is associated with increased risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases. Alcohol is not just another consumer product, but one that impacts negatively on the health of those who consume it and places an enormous strain on the health system, families and communities. We will mount legislations that seek to restrict access to alcohol especially by the youth and pregnant women. We hope that the public will support our attempts to promote public health and social integrity through these measures.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Many families have been negatively affected by the impact of HIV and AIDS, with children assuming parental responsibilities in certain instances because of loss of parents due to the pandemic. This essentially compromises their childhood and deprives them of the necessary care and support they should get from parents. At the same time, the growing number of orphans puts a burden of care on extended family networks as well as communities that traditionally support these children.
Research has shown that families are the most natural environment for the growth, protection, support and socialization of children. It is estimated that we have more than 1,5 million orphaned and vulnerable children. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS estimated that at the end of 2005, about 3,8 million of the country’s 18 million children had lost one or both parents, while 122 000 children were estimated to live in child-headed households.
As government, we have the responsibility to lessen the impact of HIV, STIs and TB on orphans and vulnerable children as well as the youth. It is for this reason that the Department of Social Development has undertaken to recruit 10 000 Child and Youth Care Workers over the next three years to provide care and support to child-headed households. We will continuously ensure that vulnerable children have access to social services, including basic education through the no-fee schools and our Early Childhood Development programme.
In conclusion, I must highlight that all sectors of society have the responsibility to protect the human rights of people living with HIV and to help improve their access to justice. We have also realised the need to sustain health and wellness, primarily by reducing deaths and disability from HIV and TB.
Government and civil society need to engage on parallel advocacy work to implant this culture so that all people are and feel safe. The results of these endeavours should be reflected in the kind of social and legal environment we create to enable access to HIV programmes. We must protect the human rights and dignity of all people if we are to effectively prevent the spread of HIV.
Let us work together towards an HIV free society.
Thank you.
