Preventing new HIV infections remains a big challenge in South Africa. However the country is doing well in providing HIV positive people with antiretroviral treatment.
This has been revealed at the launch of the SA National HIV Prevalence, Incidence, Behaviour and Communication Survey in Pretoria on Tuesday.
The results show a significant drop in the number of people newly infected with HIV last year compared to five years ago.
Former President Nelson Mandela was concerned about the HIV epidemic and commissioned the first survey in 2002.
While the survey reveals a drop in the number of new HIV infections compared to 2012, more people are living with the virus. The number of young females living with HIV is significantly high – about three times more than their male peers.
“HIV incidence rates translates to 231 000 new infections in SA in 2017. The incidence was higher among females which translated to 122 000 new infections as compared to males at 109 000 new infections in SA in 2017,”said Professor Khangelani Zuma from the Human Sciences Research Council.
The province of Kwazulu Natal still has the highest number of people living with HIV followed by Mpumalanga and the Free State. There’s an increase in the number of new infections in the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape.
About 7.9 million South Africans are HIV positive with 4.4 million of them on antiretroviral treatment. Zuma says people are living longer as they have access to lifesaving drugs. She insists though that prevention should be prioritised…
“And that speaks to lack of cases that could have been prevented. So that is really a worrying concern that it seemes we are doing very well and progressing very well on putting people on treatment and we can see where we are moving to but we are not making a big dent as far as preventing new cases are concerned.”
The survey also shows extremely low levels of consistent condom use among sexually actively people. There’s still a high number of people with multiple sexual partners and many of those interviewed have reported having their first sexual experience at a much younger age. Doctor Mpumi Zungu also from the HSRC…
“The trend is showing that there is an increase in the number of people who have sex before the age of 15 and this is even worse among males. In 2012 the statistics was 16.7% and now it’s increased to 19.5%.”
Health minister Aaron Motsoaledi has welcomed the findings. He says years of hard work is finally paying off. Motsoaledi dedicated the improved results in honour of former President Nelson Mandela.
“It was our beloved president who commissioned the first survey in 2002. Madiba was very concerned about the impact of HIV epidemic in SA. And it is in his honour that we launch these results today and announce to him what the results of what he started are today.”
There are also success stories in the country’s response to HIV. The number of people on antiretroviral treatment has more than doubled since 2012.
There’s a significant increase in the number of men who have been medically circumcised. Great progress has also been made towards UNAIDS targets of ensuring that 90 percent of people know their HIV status, 90 percent are on treatment and 90 have their virus suppressed. SOC.
