programme
17 November 2006
The Department of Health would like to make a correction on the information
relating to the number of people on antiretroviral treatment (ART) released
earlier this week.
The accumulative number of both children and adult patients put on
antiretroviral therapy by September 2006 was 213 828. In the process of
releasing the information, the number of children on ART (21 550) was
erroneously added to this figure increasing the total accumulative number of
patients on ART to 235 378.
The number of patients initiated on ART has therefore increased by 35 193 in
a three-month period from 178 635 at the end of June 2006 to 213 828 at the end
of September.
This increase represents an average of more than 11 000 patients being put
on treatment every month making the South African programme the fastest growing
ART programme in the world. The growth in the uptake is largely attributed to
an increase in the number of facilities providing ART from 251 in June 2006 to
273 in September 2006.
The Department of Health is committed to expanding access to ART in line
with the goal of providing quality treatment, care and support to all
qualifying HIV positive patients in an equitable manner.
The table below indicates the accumulative number of patients initiated on
treatment per province at the end of September 2006.
Eastern Cape: 24 920
Free State: 6 950
Gauteng: 55 580
KwaZulu-Natal: 59 404
Limpopo: 11 660
Mpumalanga: 7 989
Northern Cape: 21 579
North West: 4 476
Western Cape: 21 270
Total: 213 828
Enquiries:
Sibani Mngadi
Cell: 082 772 0161
Issued by: Department of Health
17 November 2006
