South Africa's Aids programme
31 May 2006
South Africa's HIV/Aids treatment programme is now the largest in the world, with over 200 000 South Africans receiving anti-retroviral medication through public and private health care facilities.
Briefing journalists in Cape Town earlier this month, government spokesperson Joel Netshitenzhe said there were around 134 000 South Africans on the government's anti-retroviral (ARV) programme of HIV-suppressing drugs by the end of March, and an estimated 80 000 more receiving ARVs through the private and non-governmental sectors.
"No other country has got the kinds of numbers that we are talking about - about 210 000 people who are under ART (anti-retroviral treatment)," Netshitenzhe said.
There are now 231 accredited public health facilities providing HIV/Aids-related services, including ARV drugs, covering at least two-thirds of the country's local municipalities.
Massive state resources
The state is
pouring massive resources into South Africa's fight against HIV/Aids - government spending on HIV/Aids programmes has grown tenfold since 1994, and more than tripled since 2001.
In 2005, the government announced plans to spend more than R3.4-billion over three years on anti-retroviral drugs alone - by far the largest budget allocation of any low- or middle-income country.
And in his 2006/07 Budget speech to Parliament in February, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel announced big increases in both national and provincial spending on HIV/Aids.
Provincial spending on HIV/Aids programmes over the next three years is set to grow from R1.6-billion in 2005/06 to R2.8-billion in 2008/09, while the national Health Department's HIV/Aids budget will rise from R1.57-billion to R2.19-billion over the same period, with some R458-million set aside for Aids awareness and prevention programmes.
Awareness, prevention
Netshitenzhe said South Africa
had also made significant advances in promoting HIV/Aids awareness and encouraging behaviour change, particularly the use of condoms, since the adoption of the government's Comprehensive HIV/Aids Care, Management and Treatment Plan in August 2003.
State distribution of male condoms increased from just over 300 million in 2003 to close to 350 million in 2004, Netshitenzhe said, while distribution of female condoms increased from around 1.3-million in 2003 to 2.6-million in 2004.
The Human Sciences Research Council's HIV prevalence, incidence, behaviour and communication survey of 2005 shows that there is nearly universal access (97%) to condoms in South Africa, with government hospitals and clinics being the main sources of availability.
Counselling and testing
In November, the government said that the number of South Africans who received voluntary HIV/Aids counselling and testing in public health care facilities had also increased,
from around 413 000 in 2002/03 to over 1.3-million in 2004/05. Health facilities providing these services doubled over the same period, from 1 500 to 3 700.
And in February, the Department of Health said statistics indicated that South Africans were becoming generally more aware of the dangers of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and the need to notify their partners and seek treatment together when infected.
According to the department, South Africa's notification rate had doubled from around 39% in 2000 to 83% in 2004, while the percentage of patients whose partners were subsequently treated had increased from around 15% in 2000 to 24% in 2004.
South Africa's HIV/Aids progamme includes prevention of mother-to-child transmission, with 2 500 facilities in operation, as well as post-exposure prophylaxis, which almost all hospitals and trauma centres provide to rape survivors.
Health professionals
To support its programmes,
South Africa has trained some 7 600 health professionals in HIV/Aids management, care and treatment.
The government is also improving working conditions and salary packages so that it can recruit and retain more health professionals. This includes providing a scarce skills allowance for doctors, pharmacists and specialist nurses, and a rural allowance for professionals working in less developed parts of the country.
The government also reported in November that the number of community-based and home-based care workers and trainees helping to combat HIV/Aids in South Africa had grown to well over 60 000.
Partnership with society
After its meeting in Cape Town earlier this month, the Cabinet welcomed the progress made in fighting the pandemic, but added that "much more needs to be done".
It also emphasized that an active partnership with all of society was crucial to the successful implementation of the government's HIV/Aids
programme.
This partnership, Government Communications said in a statement following the Cabinet meeting, "is embodied in the SA National Aids Council and expressed in action, which sees government, communities and non-governmental organisations working together to implement all aspects of the comprehensive plan.
"In this partnership, there is appreciation that the role-players may agree on all or some of the elements of the comprehensive programme. What we seek to ensure is that the partners work together on those issues on which they are in agreement."
SouthAfrica.info reporter and BuaNews
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