W Cape steps up Aids fight
Seshoane Masitha
9 March 2004
Western Cape Premier Marthinus van Schalkwyk says the province is in a position to offer antiretroviral treatment to every child under the age of 14 who may need it.
Van Schalkwyk was speaking at the Groote Schuur Hospital on Monday, where he announced R2.5-million in funding for antiretroviral treatment for children at the hospital. The money was donated by the UK-based One-to-One Children's Fund.
"We are stepping up this war literally every week, and the key to this battle in the Western Cape is partnership", Van Schalkwyk said. "By the end of last year we had a 100% roll-out coverage with regard to the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV-Aids."
He added that the provincial government had already opened 16 antiretroviral treatment sites this year, where more than 2 000 HIV-positive patients were being treated.
Last week, the Western Cape government announced a R30-million partnership with Europe-based NGO coalition ARK
to put 1 500 mothers on antiretroviral treatment.
"We can only commend people who live in relatively comfortable countries but who are willing to do the right thing", Van Schalkwyk said. "We value partnerships like this."
The premier said that approximately 700 children in the province were on the antiretroviral treatment programme. He envisaged that in the coming financial year, every child in the province would be able to receive antiretroviral treatment from one of the 16 sites.
The sites are at the Groote Schuur Hospital, Red Cross Children's Hospital, Tygerberg Hospital, and in Khayelitsha, Paarl, George and Worcester.
Van Schalkwyk said that from 1 April 2005, the province would take over the treatment as well as the laboratory responsibility for the children, while the One-to-One Children's Fund would continue to be involved with the programme and to make input.
David Altschuler, the founder of the One-to-One Children's Fund, commended the "superb"
care that NGOs and staff at Groote Schuur were offering to children infected with HIV-AIDS.
According to Altschuler, there are 220 children and 60 mothers on the programme at the Groote Schuur and Victoria hospitals alone.
He added that the programme was also extended to cater for abandoned children and those orphaned by Aids.
"These children are struggling to understand who they are, they have no mothers, fathers or extended family willing or able to take care of them", Altschuler said. "Instead they are being cared for in these homes by some of the most incredible people I have ever met."
Source: BuaNews
| 
