prevention

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria says a world where all children are born free of HIV infection is possible in only five years if donors continue to fund global efforts to combat the virus.

The fund states that in addition tuberculosis (TB) transmission will be halved by 2015 and malaria will be eliminated as a public health problem by 2020 if it increases funding for its programmes.

The pessimist in us all waited with baited breath to criticise the Finance Minister and point fingers at the lack of response towards social and economic drivers stifling the growth of South Africa and its future aka our young people. However, the 2010 budget speech by Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan, presented what seems like a good balance between economic development imperatives and social services. This not only made the pessimist take a backseat as we listened in anticipation, but caught the attention of at least every NGO, NPO and company striving to uplift the country.

The Ugandan Law Reform Commission formulated a new HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control Bill for 2009, which has recently received widespread criticism from human rights groups across the globe. The Bill is said to be a dangerous approach to already discredited views on how to prevent and control the spread of HIV and AIDS in Africa.

The global response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic has been unparalleled. Between 2007 and 2008, funding increased from US$11.3 billion to US$ 13.7 billion globally (UNAIDS, Fact Sheet AIDS Funding 2008-09). However, the global economic crisis is having dire consequences for HIV and AIDS funding. These effects are felt particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, which has the highest levels of HIV and AIDS infection in the world, with approximately 25 million people infected.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has urged countries to phase out the use of Stavudine, the most widespread anti-retroviral, because of what it calls long-term, irreversible side-effects in HIV patients,  including wasting and a nerve disorder.

In sweeping changes to its guidelines, the WHO also recommends that people with HIV, including pregnant women, should start taking antiretroviral drugs earlier to live a longer and healthier life.

Press Release

19 November 2009

Calls on South Africa and the media to focus on galvanising the nation around World AIDS Day 2009

Health Minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, is pushing for a radical change in South Africa’s approach to HIV testing, proposing that doctors and nurses routinely offer screening to all their patients instead of waiting for them to volunteer or get AIDS-related illnesses.

Motsoaledi says that he expects the Cabinet and other leaders to be at the forefront of a huge public HIV testing campaign, possibly on World AIDS Day on 1 December.

Health Minister, Aaron Motsoaledi has unveiled shocking figures showing a huge AIDS-related leap in South Africa's death rate.

Motsoaledi points out that, "In 11 years [from 1997 to 2008], the rate of death has doubled in South Africa. That is obviously something that cannot but worry a person."

Motsoaledi pins the blame for the current scale of the pandemic squarely on what he called the ‘denialist health policies’ pursued by former president Thabo Mbeki's government.

As a former loveLife GroundBreaker I felt it was important to attend the launch of the HIV Prevention Gauge 2009 which took place on 2 November 2009 in Johannesburg. Written by the former loveLife CEO David Harrison and Ruth Scott, HIV Prevention Gauge 2009 is a unique book that brings together all published information about the current state of the HIV epidemic in South Africa.