SOUTH AFRICA — The Durban International Convention Centre, has played host to the 11TH South Africa (SA) Aids to review and reflect on progress made towards HIV/AIDS and TB epidemic control in the country.
This year’s gathering took place under the ‘Act, Connect and End the Epidemic’ theme, bringing together the HIV community such as scientists, researchers, social activists, policymakers, and People Living with HIV (PLHIV).
According to organisers, the conference provided a platform for taking stock of the post-pandemic South African HIV/ Aids, tuberculosis and STI response and deliberating on emerging priorities as the country forges ahead with efforts and strategies to eliminate HIV as a public health threat.
According to the Health Minister, Dr Joe Phaahla, who delivered a keynote address on behalf of Deputy President Paul Mashatile, “South Africa is sharpening up its HIV prevention efforts by focusing on pregnant and breastfeeding women, children and adolescents as part of the Global Alliance to End AIDS in Children by 2030.”
“South Africa is on the three global lists of high-burden countries for TB, HIV-associated TB, and drug-resistant TB. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that over 110 000 people with TB in South Africa lost their lives between 2020 and 2021,” Dr. Phaahla said.
The new Global Alliance for Ending AIDS in Children by 2030, made up of United Nations (UN) agencies, civil society groups, governments, and international partners, was announced at the International AIDS Conference, in Canada, in 2022.
The Minister also announced that the government has embarked on the “Treatment Literacy Framework project”.
The project aims to improve treatment adherence, eliminate stigma and prejudice, encourage health-seeking behaviour, and increase treatment uptake.
“This is important to ensure that people on antiretroviral treatment keep their virus under control so they can live a healthy life. Most importantly, HIV cannot be passed on to a sexual partner when the amount of virus cannot be found,” Dr Phaahla explained.
The Minister called on delegates to use the conference as a platform to share lessons, learn from one another, reflect, and plot the path forward for a collective response to the HIV epidemic.
“We are confident that your discussions will contribute substantially to the global HIV scientific movement, which continues to produce innovative HIV management interventions,” explained Dr. Phaahla.
On the sidelines – SANA SRHR Campaign
Hundreds of people gathered in Durban for the march to Gugu Dlamini Park ahead of the opening of the South Africa Aids Conference.
The South African National Aids Council Civil Society (SANACCS) Forum used the opportunity to launch a sexual and reproductive health rights campaign, called the Love Picketing Campaign.
SANAC Civil Society Forum coordinating committee member, Mabalane Mfundisi, says the Love Picketing Campaign seeks to promote access to quality healthcare services, and awareness about STIs, voluntary male medical circumcision, and contraception.
“It is important that we take the conversations, strategies, and policies from the offices to the streets so that there is a greater understanding by the public. secondly, it’s to ensure that prior to the conference we highlight and profile the issues,” Mfundisi said.
Meanwhile, South African National Aids Council Civil Society Forum spokesperson, Nelson Dlamini called for youth-friendly health care services since the highest number of new HIV infections are among girls and young women between the ages of 15 and 24.
Dlamini says KwaZulu-Natal records over 1300 new HIV infections per week in this age group, with young people from underprivileged communities being the hardest hit. Dlamini is calling for more sexual education for young people.
“Youth-friendly services are something that we are trying to scale up and promote. It’s an advocacy march to say that as SANAC civil society forum we also want to play our role in assisting government efforts,” Dlamini elaborated.
A new HIV/AIDS mandate from UNAIDS
In December 2020, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) outlined a set of new targets.
It called for 95% of all people living with HIV to know their status, 95% of all people with diagnosed HIV infection to receive sustained antiretroviral therapy, and 95% of all people receiving antiretroviral treatment to have viral suppression by 2025.
Aids was still a big concern worldwide, according to the Joint UN Programme on HIV/Aids (UNAids) around the world and a child dies from Aids-related causes every five minutes.
Furthermore, only half (52%) of children living with HIV are on life-saving treatment, far behind adults, of whom three-quarters (76%) are receiving antiretrovirals, in 2021 alone, 160 000 children newly acquired HIV.
“Children accounted for 15% of all Aids-related deaths, despite the fact that only 4% of the total number of people living with HIV are children,” said UNAids.
Next month will see another HIV conference, the 12th International Aids Society Conference on HIV Science, which will take place in Brisbane, Australia, from July 23 to 26, and will highlight the world’s advances in HIV research.
According to the society, the Conference on HIV Science is the world’s most influential meeting on HIV research and its applications.
The biennial conference presents critical advances in basic, clinical, and operational HIV research that move science into policy and practice.
Through its open and inclusive programme, the meeting sets the gold standard of HIV science, featuring highly diverse and cutting-edge research, according to the International Aids Society.
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