2500 women, girls infected every week
SA Aids crisis makes it a fitting host for global conference
NELSON Mandela’s grandson, Ndaba, is expected to pay tribute to the late statesman at the opening of the International Aids Conference which coincides with Mandela Day on Monday.
Ndaba’s father, Makgatho Lewanika Mandela, died of an Aids-related illness in January 2005. He was 54.
The former president had – like many around the world – been moved by Nkosi Johnson’s speech at the opening of the 13th Aids conference which was hosted on African soil in 2000. At the time, Johnson, 11, was the longest living person born HIV-positive in South Africa.
Shortly before Johnson’s death Mandela wrote that he was an “icon of the struggle for life and he fought fearlessly against this ruthless and parasitic infection”.
In the June 2001 message, Mandela said: “The regrettable reality of our situation is that Aids severely threatens all that which is beautiful about children and humanity in general. On a frightening scale, HIV/Aids is replacing that joy, laughter and happiness with paralysing pain and trauma.”
South Africa has come a long way since that conference 16 years ago. From an age of Aids denialism to having the biggest antiretroviral treatment programme in the world. Today, 3.1 million of the more than six million people living with HIV in South Africa are on medication. The number is expected to increase in September when ARVs are made available to all HIV-positive people regardless of their CD4 count, as announced by Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi in his budget speech in May.
Although such strides have helped reduce the number of Aids-related deaths and motherto-child transmission the lack of socio-behavioural changes hinder further progress. Particularly alarming is the new infections among girls and young women. A UN Aids report last month stated that 2500 girls and young women aged between 15 and 24 years old were infected with HIV in South Africa every week. This accounts for half of the number of new infections in the same age group in 13 other Southern and Eastern African countries combined.
Within South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal still carried the greatest HIV burden with an estimated 1.54 million HIV positive residents. This is more than the combined total of the number of HIV positive people in Botswana and Uganda, making KZN the “epicentre” of HIV in the country.
It is fitting, then, that the biggest gathering of scientists, policy makers, civil society and other delegates from 180 countries, return to the province. This comeback has been dubbed “a critical moment in ending Aids by 2030.”
It is an opportunity to take stock of the progress the world is making in improving access to prevention and treatment, and eliminating stigma associated with HIV and Aids.
#Aids2016’s theme is Access Equity Rights Now – a call to action to work together to reach people who still lack access to comprehensive treatment, prevention, care and support services.
There are 800 volunteers to assist 18 000 delegates. More than 1 000 journalists in Durban will report on the 500 sessions.
Access to the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre will be limited to registered delegates. However, a global village will be open to all. This will host daily plenary broadcasts, NGO exhibition booths, networking zones as well as performances and art displays.
The public can join in the call for more funding for HIV/Aids in the #KeepThePromise2016 march through the CBD. This will be followed by a free concert at the Sahara Kingsmead Stadium.The concert will be hosted by US star Queen Latifah with fellow hip hop artist Common as the headline act. South African favourites Mi Casa and Big Nuz will also perform.