SA cannot become complacent about AIDS

South Africa has made huge strides in combating AIDS, but leading medical expert on HIV and AIDS Dr Helen Rees says the country cannot become complacent. Rees, the executive director of the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) Reproductive Health and HIV Institute, said while it is good to have "aspirational goals", the message must reflect the harsh reality, which is that the issue has improved from what it was but there is still a long way to go.

She also said a package was needed to treat the pandemic that included not only medical intervention but also social, behavioural and structural drivers to tackle the prevalence of AIDS among young and adolescent girls.

Rees made these comments on the sidelines of a media briefing in Johannesburg to highlight issues that would arise at the upcoming International AIDS Conference, which will take place from July 20-24 in Melbourne, Australia. It is the biggest conference on AIDS and gathers together medical experts, scientists, government officials and non-governmental organisations. At the conference, a main focus area will be adolescent girls and the prevention of infection. Young girls make up one of the main drivers of new HIV infections in South Africa due to intergenerational sex where older men take young and adolescent girls as partners. The director of the UNAIDS regional support team for eastern and southern Africa, Prof Sheila Tlou, said during the media briefing that the global vision was for 0 infections by 2030.

She said ending the AIDS epidemic means bringing the HIV and AIDS pandemic under control so that it no longer poses a threat to public health. New infection, discrimination and AIDS-related deaths would go down by 90 percent from 2010 levels, she added. In 2010, 33.8-million people were living with AIDS globally. The UNAIDS Gap Report, which was released earlier this week, showed that 19-million of the 35-million people living with AIDS in 2013 did not know they had AIDS. But the report also showed that new HIV infections had fallen by 38 percent since 2001 and in sub-Saharan Africa almost 90 percent of people who tested positive for HIV went on to access ARV therapy.

South African National AIDS Council CEO Dr Fareed Abdullah said the government was aware of the decreasing awareness of HIV and AIDS in the country, which was linked to the decline of HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns. He said the government has recognised that is a weakness, and is working with government departments and donors to increase awareness in South Africa. 

Abdullah also said the HIV transmission rate was extremely high in certain minority groups, which included sex workers and men that have sex with men, and that these would be some of the groups that would be focused on. In 2013, $19.1bn was made available globally for the AIDS response.

Business Day, 18 July 2014