at the opening of the South African Government Exhibition, 16th International
AIDS Conference, Toronto, Canada
13 August 2006
We are meeting here in Toronto during a difficult time in the history of the
world. We begin this 16th International AIDS Conference with a theme â Time to
Deliver - at the time when the world is faced with a threat of terrorism and
the suffering of ordinary people, especially women and children as a result of
the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
The South African Government joins the rest of the international community
in calling for a peaceful resolution to global conflicts. We must stop the
deaths, injuries and the humanitarian crisis caused by weeks of violence and
carnage on Lebanon and Gaza.
While we engage in the measures to ensure global stability, we need not lose
focus of the major challenges of poverty and underdevelopment that continue to
undermine the health and well-being of people, particularly on the African
continent.
Africa understands that it is time to intensify efforts to address its
challenges. In this regard, we congratulate the people of the Democratic
Republic of Congo on the peaceful elections held two weeks ago. South Africa
and other countries in our region have undergone the peer review process which,
amongst other things, promotes good governance on the African continent as
envisioned in the New Partnership for Africaâs Development (NEPAD).
The international community has made various commitments encompassed in the
Millennium Development Goals and other global resolutions to address the
challenges of poverty and support development efforts in poor regions of the
world. The time has come for long-standing commitments such as debt relief,
fair global trade environment and the pledge by the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD) Member States to commit 0,7 percent of
gross national income for official development assistance to be fulfilled. It
is time to deliver.
Progress in delivering on these commitments will significantly boost the
worldâs ability to meet the commitments made at United Nations (UN) High Level
meeting on HIV and AIDS, held in New York in May this year. UNAIDS estimates
that between 20 and 23 billion US dollars is needed annually to attain the
commitment we made in New York with regard to universal access to prevention,
care and treatment by 2010.
At the replenishment meeting of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and
Malaria held in Durban more than a month ago, South Africa pledged an
additional R1 million to the US$10 million that we are contributing to the
Global Fund over five years (2003-2007), to demonstrate our commitment to the
mobilisation of resources for the response to these infectious diseases.
We need not forget that the New York meeting also acknowledged the social
determinants of health as crucial in addressing the challenge of the spread of
HIV infection and the impact of AIDS in our society. These are issues that were
highlighted by our president, President Thabo Mbeki, during his address to this
conference in Durban six years ago. He urged us to not only address HIV and
AIDS only as a medical problem, but also to deal with the underlying factors
such as poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition, gender inequality and
illiteracy.
Over the past 12 years of our democracy, the South African government has
made significant progress in addressing these challenges. Progress made in
addressing the challenges of gender inequality in particular, was highlighted
this week as our nation celebrated Womenâs Day on 9 August, a national holiday
dedicated to women for their contribution to the struggle for a non-racial,
non-sexist and democratic South Africa.
Our Government is implementing arguably, the biggest and most comprehensive
programme as outlined in the Comprehensive Plan for Management, Care and
Treatment of HIV and AIDS. We believe that countries need to mobilise national
resources as much as it is possible â depending on the resources available in
each country - to implement their national plan. We are convinced that this
approach will ensure sustainability of national programmes and that our
interventions respond to local needs.
Our Comprehensive Plan is 90 percent funded by the Government of South
Africa. Because we are convinced of the need to intensify delivery, we have
tripled the budget allocation for the Comprehensive Plan over the last four
years from just over R1 billion in 2002, to R3,5 billion in 2005.
As we all know that there is still no cure for HIV and AIDS, and we thus
continue to put emphasis on prevention as the mainstay of our response, and
most surveys indicate a very high level of awareness about HIV and AIDS amongst
our people ranging between 92-98 percent. This is as a result of the awareness
campaigns which encourage our people to abstain from sex and to be faithful to
one partner.
Government also provides free, high quality condoms for the prevention of
sexually transmitted infections including HIV infection and re-infection as
well as unwanted pregnancies. Male condom distribution was at 346 million in
2004 and female condom distribution doubled from 1,3 in 2003 to 2,6 million in
2004. We hope to increase the supply of female condoms to 3 million this
year.
The Report on the National HIV and Syphilis Antenatal Sero-prevalence Survey
indicates that HIV prevalence rates for 2004 and 2005 are very similar. The
prevalence profile continues to confirm the expectation and projections of
numerous groups whose models suggest that South Africa will begin to see a
decline in the prevalence profile. The studies conducted over the years show
that intervention programmes, which emphasise prevention, have a very important
role in moderating HIV prevalence and the epidemiology of HIV infections in
general.
We hope that this conference can pay particular attention on issues of
prevention especially since this year has been declared the year of accelerated
prevention by the African region of the World Health Organisation. This should
cover research work on reducing the risk of Mother-to-child transmission of HIV
including the best infant feeding options.
We are also promoting uptake into voluntary counselling and testing (VCT)
which is now available in 89 percent of public health facilities. There are
many services that we provide as Government to delay the progression from HIV
infection to the development of AIDS-defining illnesses, and to maintain
optimal health for people living with HIV and AIDS. We firmly believe that
delaying this progression is the most critical area where we need to make
maximum impact.
We have engaged in the Healthy Lifestyle awareness campaign encouraging
people to exercise regularly and to eat nutritious and healthy food
particularly vegetables and fruits and this is supported by initiatives to
promote community vegetable gardens and food security. Many people are
benefiting from the provision of nutritional supplementation within the
Comprehensive Plan.
We provide rigorous treatment of opportunistic infections in most of our
facilities. We are also encouraging research and development of African
traditional medicines that are effective in alleviating symptoms associated
with HIV and AIDS by boosting the immune system. Very soon we will be launching
the Council for Traditional Health Practitioners and establish a Presidential
Task Team on Traditional Medicine.
All our districts and 72 percent of local municipalities have accredited
service points for providing antiretroviral therapy which is delivered by
government free of charge.
There are indeed challenges which we are continuously trying to address
particularly with regard to monitoring and evaluation of our programmes. Data
collection for the Comprehensive Plan is still limited to:
* accumulative number of patients assessed
* accumulative number of patients initiated on treatment
* CD4 counts and viral loads done
* the number of accredited health facilities.
We are making efforts to expand this programme to record patients that have
exited the treatment programme, adherence and adverse events. We have
established pharmaco-vigilance centres in three universities to monitor and
investigate adverse events. There is also a need to work with both non-profit
and for-profit private sectors to ensure the harmonisation of indicators.
There is a need for strengthening of health system as this is fundamental to
the provision of quality health care for our population, including people
living with HIV and AIDS.
We have to address the issue of the shortage and uneven distribution of
certain health professionals in the country. We are finding innovative ways to
address this issue through the development of the mid-level health worker
category which includes medical, pharmacist and nursing assistants. All these
interventions are within the framework of the Human Resources Plan for Health
launched during this yearâs World Health Day, on 7 April.
The reduction of the prices of medicines and other essential commodities
remains a very critical area of intervention. Affordability of these
commodities is critical in improving accessibility and sustainability of
treatment interventions. We also have to encourage innovation and research into
additional tools for our response including vaccines and microbicides,
traditional medicine and other forms of therapies.
There is hope that our determination to address the challenge of HIV and
AIDS in our country is beginning to render results. Overall HIV prevalence is
no longer increasing as significantly as it was in the early 1990s.
Particularly encouraging is that the prevention messages regarding
abstinence, faithfulness and condom use are being taken to heart, especially by
the young. Most of the vulnerable children are receiving social support and
have free access to health services and education.
During this conference, we hope to learn from presentations on the
interventions and research advances being made in various parts of the world.
We will also use this opportunity to share our experiences and we hope this
exhibition will assist in highlighting the progress we are making towards
curbing the spread of HIV infection and reducing the impact of AIDS on our
society.
We have tried to ensure that this exhibition represents the series of
interventions included in the Comprehensive Plan on HIV and AIDS ranging from
prevention, care and support which includes good nutrition as well as treatment
programmes. We hope that this stand will attract delegates from across the
world and serve as a tool to share South Africaâs best practices.
In conclusion, let me also take this opportunity to invite all South
Africans to a cocktail function to be hosted by our Consulate General here in
Toronto on Tuesday evening.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your attention.
Issued by: Department of Health
13 August 2006
