HIV and AIDS is still a pandemic in South Africa
World AIDS Day on 1 December shines the spotlight on a catastrophic virus that for nearly four decades has wreaked socio-economic and health havoc on South Africa.
The first official AIDS case in the country was reported in 1982.Within two decades, the country was in the grip of a frightening health crisis, with children being orphaned, skilled employees being lost, productivity decreasing and our health system overburdened.
In 2004, Statistics South Africa estimated the accumulated number of AIDS-related deaths to be 1.49 million.
The tide started turning in 2005 when a national antiretroviral treatment (ART) programme was launched. Last year, 126 805 AIDS-related deaths were reported.
Although South Africa has the highest global infection rate, with an estimated 7.8 million people living with HIV (PLHIV) in 2018, our success rate in combatting the crisis is also globally recognised and our ART programme is the world's largest.
Apart from the mass
ART programme and decreased mortality rate, South Africa has enjoyed great success with its Know your Status campaign.
In 2018, it was announced that the country had reached the first 90% of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS's (UNAIDS) 90-90-90 goals when over 90% of the 7.8 million PLHIV in SA were found to be aware of their HIV status.
South Africa is also well on its way to reaching the second and third goals in ensuring 90% of PLHIV are on ART and 90% are virally suppressed.
In fact, in 2019, UNAIDS confirmed that three districts in KwaZulu-Natal had reached 90-90-90.
Another significant milestone came in October when the University of the Witwatersrand and researchers from the HIV Prevention Trials Network announced that the long-acting injectable antiretroviral drug cabotegravir – a pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) – was found to be highly effective in preventing the virus in women.
This is heartening news for women in Sub-Saharan Africa who continue to experience high HIV incidence. Although an oral PrEP has been available for some time, it is easy for women to forget to take their pill each day, which then puts them at risk of exposure.
Sadly, the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic has impacted South Africa's HIV progress. This is because health resources have been redirected to fight COVID-19 and, fearing infection, people have been reluctant to seek medical care for other conditions.
According to the Minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkhize, HIV testing fell by 46% between April and June 2020. Speaking at the launch of the 7th annual Rotary Family Health Days, he stressed that HIV and AIDS is “still a pandemic in this country, more threatening than COVID-19”.
Public servants are urged to take up Minister Mkhize's call of encouraging South Africans to get tested and, if positive, to start treatment so that they can live a long and healthy life, and keep their immune system strong enough to fight off other diseases, including COVID-19.