In a debate commemorating World Aids Day in the National Assembly, the Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, pointed out that although the disease is a worldwide phenomenon, South Africa has the dubious distinction of being the country most affected by it.
This is despite South Africa rolling out the biggest antiretroviral programme in the world in 2010. Sadly, at that time there was a lot of skepticism about the origins of Aids, how it could be treated and whether such treatment would achieve the desired results. “We are not proud of how we initially responded to it, but proud that we responded to it in a comprehensive and proper manner. Today, we have 5.5 million people on ARV treatment,” the Minister noted.
One of the United Nations’ Millenium Goals is to eliminate all sexually transmitted diseases, including Aids, by 2030. Dr Motsoaledi noted that the government’s work in this regard is informed by the UN Aids concept of 90, 90, 90. “This concept seeks to ensure that 90% of the world’s population first get tested and get to know their status. Then, to ensure that 90% of those are given access to ARV treatment, and [then] to ensure that 90% of them are eventually virally suppressed and can’t infect others,” he noted.
Dr Motsoaledi further added that scientists have since raised these test, treatment and prevention thresholds to 95%. However, in South Africa, 96% of people who have tested know their status, but only 79% receive treatment. Meaning that 1.1 million of those who know their Aids status are not taking ARV treatment, the Minister said.
Reflecting on the population profile of this cohort, Dr Motsoaledi observed, “The overwhelming majority of them are men. The solution to ending Aids lies with men. And we don’t know where to find them, for we can’t find them in churches and they don’t go healthcare facilities. Women have played their role in the fight against Aids. Men have not and they are the ones responsible for the spread of Aids. Men, take the baton from women and play your part in the fight against this disease. Stand up and be counted.”
Ms Nompumelelo Gasa for uMkhonto WeSizwe Party acknowledged the strides made in increasing access to ARVs and reducing Aids-related deaths. Her party claims that these results are due to the momentum established by former President Jacob Zuma’s administration following a denialist phase that cost 300 000 lives.
However, more recently, Ms Gasa said, the campaign against Aids has been relegated to the sidelines. “Complacency has replaced urgency. Living with Aids has been normalised and has led to laxity, particularly among the youth. And now there’s emphasis on medication over prevention,” she concluded.
Mr Karl le Roux for the Democratic Alliance praised the research of South African scientists to mitigate and manage the effects of Aids over the past 15 years.
The Economic Freedom Fighters’ Dr Sophie Thembekwayo told the House that MPs have a moral duty and constitutional obligation to uproot corruption in the healthcare sector to fight against Aids successfully. “The ruling elites are now lining up for state tenders in the sector to enrich themselves. They sacrifice the lives of the poor at the altar of greed to amass wealth.”
Not long ago, Dr Thembekwayo said, “They looted money meant to protect people during Covid-19 when many were dying like flies. As Members of Parliament, we have a constitutional obligation to ensure the resources meant to fight this scourge are appropriated, dispensed and managed accordingly,” she said.
The stigma and discrimination faced by people living with Aids preoccupied Ms Nompumelelo Mhlongo (Inkatha Freedom Party) during her contribution to the debate. Besides the medical interventions, “We must fight the stigma and discrimination against people living with Aids. These social barriers are as dangerous as Aids,” she said.
The fight against Aids should not be reduced to a day, Ms Jasmine Petersen (Patriotic Alliance) suggested. Rather, she continued, “we need new insights to inform the design of government interventions in our ongoing efforts to fight this disease.”
The key challenge with Aids is that it manifests medically, but it is a socially driven disease, Dr Tebogo Letlape (ActionSA) observed. And the key to eradicating it is to adapt Albert Einstein’s formula for relativity: E = mc2. “E stands for women empowerment, m for male rehabilitation and c2 for squaring our efforts on prevention,” he suggested.
He also emphasised the correlation between the spread of Aids infections and the general economic disempowerment of women in South African society. “If we can’t get past a point where a girl child wants to be with someone, not because she loves him but because she can’t fend for herself . . . if such situation persists,” Dr Letlape maintained, “we will never see the end of this pandemic.”
Abel Mputing
27 November 2024
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