Editorial: We CAN win the war against Aids

TODAY is World Aids day and South Africa can take a bow as the country with the biggest HIV treatment programme in the world. This is such a far cry from the days of Aids denialism during the Mbeki presidency that we tend to forget the massive strides that have been made by the Department of Health. This victory can largely be attributed to the work of Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi and the persistent activism of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) which still exists today to campaign for better public health services for all. It is through the work of health activist groups like the TAC that the number of deaths caused by HIV have been decimated. In the last five years alone, Aids-related deaths have declined by 58% in South Africa and by 41% globally. According to UNAids, the world’s target for providing treatment to HIV-positive patients was met nine months prior to the set schedule.

The World Health Organisation statistics for last year show that new HIV infections have decreased by 35%. This is massively good news, in particular the fact that mother-to-child transmission has decreased from 36 000 to 4 800, a drop of 87% worldwide. The war against the global pandemic is being won through prevention campaigns aimed at encouraging safe sex, antiretroviral treatment, which plays a vital role in the prevention of motherto-child transmission, and widespread testing. The only shadow cast on this silver lining is the social stigma which still exists when people disclose their HIV status. Many people do not want to go for testing or to collect their antiretroviral drugs at clinics for fear of being socially ostracised if their status is revealed. It is here that civil society organisations like trade unions, churches and sports clubs should play a role in helping to destigmatise the disease and provide HIV/Aids education programmes. It is through collective efforts like this that we can win the war against this disease.