SA makes strides in HIV treatment
Private health care must take some burden off the state
SOUTH Africa has come a long way since treatment for HIV was made available and now has the largest treatment programme in the world. World-renowned activist and co-founder of the Treatment Action Campaign, Zackie Achmat, said his life has changed since he started treatment.
Achmat publicly announced his status in 1998 and refused to get on ARV treatment, until all who needed them had access to the drugs.
He started taking his treatment in 2003. “In 2003 at the end I started ARV treatment and my viral load is still undetectable, that means that the virus cannot be found in my semen or blood,” he said.
“For me that is an enormous boon. It is a privilege to be alive and it (treatment) is also something that everyone should have as a right and not as a privilege.”
He said Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has done a “fantastic job” in maintaining the momentum of delivering treatment. “There are some problems, but the real problem is not in the public healthcare system, but in the private health-care system not helping.
“The private sector has to take some of the burden from the state.”
Achmat said one of the interesting things is that more women are on treatment than men.
“They look after themselves and their health and they often have to care for others including children. Men because of the toxicity of masculinity and patriarchy, they fall out of treatment a lot easier and there is a greater level of stigma among men.”
UNAids launched a report showing that the rise in treatment had gone up significantly.
“In 2000, just 685 000 people living with HIV had access to antiretroviral therapy. By June 2017, around 20.9 million people had access to the life-saving medicines. Such a dramatic scale-up could not have happened without the courage and determination of people living with HIV demanding and claiming their rights, backed up by steady, strong leadership and financial commitment,” the report said.
Motsoaledi said in 2001 in Khayelitsha, the first person received treatment and now almost 42 000 people are on treatment there.
He added that the challenge was to ensure that the 17.1 million people in need of treatment, including 919 000 children, can access the medicines and to put HIV prevention back at the top of public health programming, particularly in the countries in which new HIV infections are rising.