Achievements in SA’s HIV/Aids fight but no successes yet: Ramaphosa
JOBURG - Although many achievements have been made in the fight against HIV/Aids in South Africa, the country cannot yet claim success.
This was according to Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa who was speaking at the launch of the 2016 International Aids Conference in Parktown. Ramaphosa said there were millions of people living with HIV/Aids and becoming infected with the disease, which needed to be prevented.
“HIV/Aids has become a global epidemic and affects many people in many countries as well as the African continent… we have got to equip people living with Aids to live longer and to make sure that they have access to treatment,” he said.
He added that several African countries had implemented massive treatment and prevention campaigns that have had an impact on HIV/Aids incidences, life expectancy, and maternal and infant mortality.
“South Africa, with the highest number of people living with HIV/Aids, has rolled out the biggest treatment programme with over 2.7 million people initiated on antiretrovirals,” he said.
“Though we have made progress in many areas, we are still concerned about the stubbornly high numbers of new infections.”
The stigma around HIV/Aids and challenges ensuring that those on treatment were supported to continue taking the medication, undermined the government’s treatment programmes, he said.
The 2016 conference to be held in Durban would be hosted by South Africa for the second time after being held in the country in 2000.
According to Ramaphosa, the 2000 conference was pivotal in focusing the world’s attention on the impact of HIV/Aids in Sub-Saharan Africa, fundamentally changing the course of the epidemic on the continent.
“A decade and a half later, thanks in large to the deliberations at that conference and the unparalleled response of the global health community, we have made much progress,” Ramaphosa said.
However, Ramaphosa said the country needed to strengthen its work on HIV/Aids, and an expansion of healthcare was necessary to deal with more diseases.
He added that the response to HIV/Aids had to remain prominent in the post-2015 sustainable framework and global coverage needed to be continuous.
“We need to ensure that the international community continues to affirm the inextricable link between development and health.”
