Despite a decrease in the prevalence of HIV/Aids in SA, Eastern Cape health MEC Nomakhosazana Meth wants to see the rate of new infections reduced by at least 50% in the next five years.
Speaking at the provincial World Aids Day commemoration in Matatiele on Friday, she implored Eastern Cape residents to go back to basics and use condoms, saying they were still the most effective way of preventing HIV/Aids.
Meth said though the government had spent a fortune procuring condoms as one of the most strategic prevention tools, the number of people using them was decreasing.
“Prevention will always be better than cure. It is especially worrisome when you look at the number of investments that we are making as government on procuring condoms.
“They are freely available in our clinics, so we urge people to take them and use them,” the MEC said.
“However, we are concerned that condom usage levels are increasingly going down in the province and in the country. We need to go back to basic messaging about condom usage.”
She said a recent Human Sciences Research Council household survey had shown that HIV prevalence continued to decrease, even if it was not at the rate the government wanted.
There were positive signs that the state’s treatment programme had made the most significant contribution in curbing both the high death rate and the rate of new HIV infections.
But there were still worrying signs that the rate of new HIV infections was not declining sufficiently.
Meth said the provincial government had distributed more than 1.2-million male condoms and 39,000 female condoms and tested more than 16,782 people for HIV as part of build-up campaigns to World Aids Day.
Of the people tested, 252 had tested positive and 216 were initiated into antiretroviral therapy.
This year’s global event had been commemorated under the theme “Let Communities Lead.”
Meth said this reflected the provincial health department’s long-held approach to community-centred development.
“Community-centred development acknowledges that communities understand their problems better and are therefore better suited to provide sustainable solutions to their problem.
“So, it is important for communities to play a central role in the fight against HIV/Aids.”
She said as an addition to this year’s theme, the government had chosen to make children its key focus.
In December 2020, UNAids released new targets calling for 95% of all people living with HIV to know their HIV status, 95% of those with diagnosed HIV infection to receive sustained antiretroviral therapy, and 95% of patients receiving antiretroviral therapy to have viral suppression by 2025.
Meth said while the provincial government’s performance in respect to the general population was at 93-77-91, when it came to children older than 15, it was at 83-74-68.
“We want to galvanise everyone to help us improve our performance in this aspect,” Meth said.
She said Deputy President Paul Mashatile had launched the South African Chapter of the Global Alliance to End Aids in Children by 2030.
Meth said the fact that more than 17,617 young girls between 10 and 19 had given birth in hospitals between April 2022 and March 2023 showed that sexually active young people were not using condoms.
“They are freely available in our clinics, so we urge people to take them and use them,”
This opened them to the risk of contracting diseases and becoming pregnant.
“When the time comes, they must be ready to pick up the baton and take this great province and country to the promised land,” Meth said.
“They cannot do that if they drop out of school because of unwanted pregnancy and they cannot do that beyond the grave if they continue to be reckless, having unprotected sex, not knowing their HIV status, thus not taking life-saving treatment.”
On Friday, Meth also accepted a R5m integrated school health bus donated by Anglo American Platinum to offer primary healthcare services to pupils across the province.
The bus has been modified and fitted with state-of-the-art audiology, dentistry and optometry services and equipment.
Anglo American Platinum’s corporate affairs and sustainable impact executive head Yvonne Mfolo said it would be used for the benefit of pupils and people in rural communities who often found it difficult to access medical services.
She said the Eastern Cape had made a significant and enduring contribution to the mining industry through the provision of migrant labour.
“This [donation] is in line with our purpose which is to reimagine mining to improve people’s lives and we do [this] through our sustainable mine plan, which inspires us to build thriving communities in the areas we operate in, as well as other spheres of influence.
“I implore the schools and members of the community to take advantage of this mobile health unit and what it has to offer,” Mfolo said.
She urged communities and schools to take care of the bus.
DispatchLIVE
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