at the launch of the Accelerated Prevention of HIV and AIDS initiative,
Johannesburg
11 April 2006
Programme Director,
Representatives of SADC,
Representatives from the Pan African Parliament,
Regional UNAIDS Director,
Representatives of Civil Society,
Members of the press,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning to you all.
Today, the member states of the Africa Region of the World Health
Organisation launch the Year for Accelerating HIV Prevention. African Ministers
of Health declared this initiative last year in Maputo, Mozambique. There were
specific reason why we had to take this important decision as Ministers of
Health from the region most affected by HIV and AIDS.
Over the past years, there has been a great deal of engagement over the
issues relating only to access to treatment. We made efforts to ensure that
treatment is understood in its broader sense to include treatment of
opportunistic infections and sexually transmitted infections. Even today, we
are still struggling to get appropriate recognition of African traditional
medicines as effective interventions in addressing the challenge of HIV and
AIDS.
Some groups have lobbied extensively for the provision of antiretroviral
drugs as the main intervention in dealing with HIV and AIDS. These campaigns
were supported by a number of international initiatives, the last being the
WHOs Three by Five initiatives which aimed to provide antiretroviral treatment
to three million people by the year 2005. All these efforts were being made
despite the challenges in the capacity of health systems in Africa to safely
administer and monitor this type of therapy. There were also serious challenges
in terms of affordability the drugs and sustainability of these initiatives in
our context.
The approach of the South African Government was to insist on creating
favourable conditions for introduction of this intervention. We focused our
efforts on reducing the prices of medicines, building the capacity of our
health system and mobilising sufficient resources within our own fiscus to
ensure sustainability of such an intervention. In due course, we indeed added
this element to our comprehensive response to HIV and AIDS in the country.
The unfortunate consequence of this engagement on treatment locally and
internationally has been the downgrading of prevention as a central element in
responding to this health condition, for which there is still no known cure.
Prevention became the forgotten child of the HIV and AIDS response.
The South African Government has always emphasised the need for a
comprehensive approach to HIV and AIDS. In the absence of a cure, we have
emphasised that prevention remains the mainstay of our response.
We are glad that today, there is a better understanding of the critical role
of prevention and the need for a global focus on this particular
intervention.
The purpose of the year for Accelerated HIV Prevention is to reflect on our
prevention efforts and establish their effectiveness.
We have to identify the drivers of the spread of HIV infection in the region
and make concerted efforts to address them. These factors include poverty,
underdevelopment and gender inequalities that make women more vulnerable to HIV
infection and the impact of AIDS.
Prevention campaign also gives us an opportunity to build the moral fibre of
our society and intensify the Healthy Lifestyle Programme as the main
intervention in promoting good health amongst our people. The Healthy Lifestyle
Programme includes:
* Promotion of regular physical activity and good nutrition
* Tobacco control
* Reducing the levels of alcohol and substance abuse
* And promoting safe sexual behaviour.
We will be increasing our efforts as Department of Health to support
interventions aimed at promoting abstinence and being faithful. Building on the
massive condom distribution programme which is averaging at more than 300
million per year, our messages will focus particularly on the correct and
consistence use of these commodities that government make available free of
charge.
We will be up-scaling our communication and social mobilisation campaign.
The budget for the campaign over a two year period has been increased from R160
million to R200 million. The department is currently finalising the
specification for the new communication tender and this tender will be
advertised and awarded accordingly.
HIV communication programmes need to be transformed from being behavioural
change, driven to supporting real interventions on the ground. They need to
makes a difference in the lives of people, including those living with HIV and
AIDS. The challenge for communication programme is to move beyond simple
messaging and provide effective links to service delivery.
We have significantly increased coverage for Voluntary Counselling and
Testing and Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission programme. While we
continue to expand the coverage, we will also make efforts to encourage more up
take within these programmes.
Programme Director, there are many opportunities for us to reflect together
on how to accelerate HIV prevention during the course of this year. In Abuja
next month, African Heads of State will gather to review the progress made in
meeting the goals we set five years ago at the Abuja Summit of Heads of State
on HIV and AIDS, TB and other infectious diseases.
During this summit we will reflect on national and regional discussions that
have been undertaken on how to make universal access to HIV and AIDS
prevention, care and treatment a reality.
During these discuss, we made significant efforts as a country to broaden
the definition of universal access to encompass prevention, care and treatment
as critical elements of a response to HIV and AIDS. I am glad that this
comprehensive approach, which has been championed by South African Government
for many years, is beginning to gain broader global support.
There is no doubt that much progress has been made in addressing the
challenge of HIV and AIDS in the country. There are indeed challenges which we
have all acknowledged and are seeking the best ways to address them. As we make
presentation to the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV and
AIDS at the end of May, we need to share our best practices with the world and
learn from the experiences of fellow United Nations member states.
We need to ensure appropriate projection of the work done by many South
Africans and their government in curbing the spread of HIV infection and
reducing the impact of AIDS.
Let us all support this endeavour to ensure that prevention re-assumes its
rightful position as the mainstay of the global response to HIV and AIDS.
Thank you.
Issued by: Department of Health
11 April 2006
