Speaker of the National Assembly, Max Sisulu,
Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces, Johannes Mahlangu,
Minister of Health, Aaron Motsoaledi,
All Ministers and Deputy Ministers present here,
Leaders of political parties,
South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) members,
Honourable Members.
As you know, the global community has been faced with one of the most profound epidemics in the history of human kind, the HIV epidemic. South Africa in particular has borne the brunt of this epidemic which has also been complicated by the accompanying TB epidemic.
Over the last three decades, scientists, researchers, governments and communities have invested a wide range of resources and efforts towards halting the spread of HIV. We have also invested significantly in our response with support from the development community, foundations, philanthropies and many other stakeholders.
Today, the investments and efforts dedicated to the control of the HIV pandemic are starting to bear fruit. The latest Global HIV Report released by UNAIDS, shows that the number of new infections has declined significantly.
Here in South Africa, we have also seen huge gains in our programme:
- The rate of HIV transmission from mother to child continues to decrease.
- A successful counselling and testing campaign launched by the President in 2010, led to HIV testing by 20 million people some of whom were also screened for Tuberculosis and other non-communicable diseases.
- Currently, we have one of the largest treatment programmes with 2.4 million people on treatment.
Returning to the Global HIV Report, I would like to highlight some of the data which are cause for concern. The report indicates that even within the context of declining new infections, Sub-Saharan Africa remains the epicentre of the pandemic:
- Of the 35 million people living with HIV, 25 million are in Sub-Saharan Africa.
- 70% of the new infections which occurred in 2012, occurred in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Of most concern the report shows that 88% of new infections in children under the age of 15 occurred in Sub-Saharan Africa.
What this in essence means is that our region continues to bear the highest burden of disease. If new infections continue occurring among young people, we will not be able to capitalize on the demographic dividend, nor will we be able to sustain some of the development gains we are making as a country and across the region.
Honourable Members, what this means is that we cannot declare victory yet!
We must continue to expand our programmes to achieve full coverage and, more importantly, we must maintain our focus on PREVENTION, PREVENTION and PREVENTION. This is why efforts to sustain HIV counselling and testing through on-going campaigns and institutionalisation of this practice are of importance.
We must encourage everyone to test and know their HIV status including screening for other non-communicable diseases. It is important to emphasise that HIV testing must be a regular component of our lives; we urge everyone to test annually. HIV infection is also associated with a wide range of complications such as loss of vision, susceptibility to opportunistic infections such as TB; hence it is very important to know one's status so that appropriate action can be taken.
Those who test negative need to do everything possible to maintain their negative status and those who are HIV positive need to be enrolled in our treatment, care and support programmes.
Going forward, we will now include assessment of eye-sight as part of the comprehensive package of screening with our HIV counselling and testing services.
Let me remind Honourable members that screening for Tuberculosis and other non-communicable diseases such as hypertension and diabetes will also be provided during this HCT campaign in Parliament and its precincts.
Since 2010, testing, counselling and screening have been done across a wide variety of sectors and communities in the country; on the farms, at taxi-ranks, churches, schools, the workplace, on the mines, in the community and we have now brought these services to Parliament.
The South African National AIDS Council through its various sectors continues to advocate and promote the uptake of HIV and TB related services. It is our wish that these services and the campaign be extended to provincial legislatures and to Municipalities as part of the broader HIV prevention programme. Your leadership is crucial to the success of our national efforts to respond effectively to HIV and TB infection.
Let us work together to ensure that we achieve the objectives in our National Strategic Plan for HIV, TB and STIs.
Let us take responsibility to move our country closer to the vision of:
Zero new HIV and TB infections
Zero deaths due to HIV and TB
Zero HIV infections from mother-to-child
Zero stigma and discrimination.
I thank you.
