treatment

Executive Director for the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Michel Sidibe, has expressed worry at the decline in donor funding towards HIV/AIDS service provision.

Speaking at a press briefing at the opening of the 21st International AIDS conference in Durban, Sidibe warned that if the decline in funding continues the fight against HIV/AIDS would lead to a reverse in the gains made in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

South Africa has aligned itself with a United Nations (UN) General Assembly Political Declaration to accelerate global action towards eliminating the spread of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) by 2030.

Addressing the General Assembly, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi touted his government’s intensified efforts that have seen the largest HIV and AIDS programme catering to over 3.4 million people on antiretrovirals.

Health practitioners in KwaZulu-Natal have raised concerns about the growing number of new HIV/AIDS patients defaulting on antiretroviral treatment.

During the HIV/AIDS Symposium held at the City of uMhlathuze in eMpangeni on the north coast, they said that in that municipality alone, about 500 HIV/AIDS patients have defaulted on ARVs in the past year.

They further said that close to 7 000 people people have not returned to clinics for disease management and support in the province.

Former president Thabo Mbeki’s argument of Twitter gained lots of support from people who praised him ‘for his facts’ on the issue of HIV/AIDS.
 
There are also some people who still regarded him as a denialist, after Mbeki released his letter titled ‘Some observations on HIV & mortality in South Africa’ in a series of letters he normally publishes on Mondays.
 

Sex workers, long ignored by the government and harassed by police, will finally get access to HIV treatment and prevention - but decriminalisation has not been dealt with by government and this could hobble the initiative.
 
Deputy President, Cyril Ramaphosa, released a detailed plan on Friday to ensure sex workers achieve better healthcare.
 
With about 70 percent of sex workers in Johannesburg are HIV-positive, Ramaphosa said sex workers will now receive antiretrovirals as soon as they test positive.
 

The South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) has criticised former president, Thabo Mbeki, describing his recent statements on HIV/AIDS as an ‘irrelevant debate’
Mbeki, in the latest of his series of letters published on his institute’s website, denied he ever said “HIV does not cause AIDS.”

This week, SANAC, which is chaired by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, called on South Africans to ignore Mbeki’s statements.

Independent researchers, advocate Anthony Brink and Chris Rawiins, have come out in support of former president, Thabo Mbeki's views on HIV/AIDS.

Brink, who has written several research books on the treatment of HIV including his most noted book ‘Debating AZT: Mbeki and the AIDS Drug Controversy’, says Mbeki is correct in what he wrote in his recent open letter.

He is echoes Mbeki’s view that a virus does not cause a syndrome, adding that the outrage at his stance on HIV came from white liberal establishments who had bought a story sold by America.

Deputy President, Cyril Ramaphosa, has urged South Africans to continue to test for HIV in order to achieve an AIDS-free generation ahead of the World AIDS Day (1 December).

Ramaphosa points out that, "We need to spread the word about prevention and encouraging all sexually-active South Africans to use condoms. We need to encourage people to test for HIV and TB [tuberculosis].

He further states that South Africans need to ensure that all those who need treatment receive treatment and that they remain on treatment.

The United Nations has urged countries to ‘break the AIDS epidemic’ by doubling the number of people receiving HIV treatment within the next five years.
 
In a new report, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) hailed ‘extraordinary’ progress in the fight against HIV and AIDS over the past 15 years, insisting the world has a chance of meeting the UN goal of eliminating AIDS as a global health threat by 2030.