• News
  • Sport
  • TV
  • Radio
  • Education
  • TV Licences
  • Contact Us

For all official information and updates regarding COVID-19, visit the South African Department of Health's website at www.sacoronavirus.co.za

No Result
View All Result
  • SOUTH AFRICA
  • POLITICS
  • BUSINESS
  • SPORT
  • AFRICA
  • WORLD
  • SCI-TECH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • FEATURES
  • OPINION
Home Features HIV/Aids 2012: HIV and Aids - IWMF fellows report

We can beat HIV, says Judge Edwin Cameron

23 November 2012, 8:13 PM  |
News Publisher News Publisher |  @SABCNews
Cameron has been on HIV treatment for almost 15 years ... Picture:Tanja Bencun

Cameron has been on HIV treatment for almost 15 years ... Picture:Tanja Bencun

Cameron has been on HIV treatment for almost 15 years ... Picture:Tanja Bencun

Constitutional Court Judge Edwin Cameron discovered he was HIV positive in 1986 when the death toll for people with AIDS was rising.As a person newly diagnosed, Cameron had a heightened sense of his impending death. But more than three decades later, he’s very much alive. Tanja Bencun recently spoke with Cameron and found out that he is optimistic about life and the way government is now dealing with the epidemic. Cameron has been on HIV treatment for almost 15 years and as he puts it “it is a miracle drug.” He remains the only public official to have spoken out about his status. He says people now have a better understanding of HIV and AIDS mainly because it has affected all of us in some way or another. Stigma long associated with HIV is declining and this is partly due to treatment. Cameron says:“People are talking about being on treatment, about being on ARVs. I think it has also helped that we have had a massive test drive to get people tested many more people know their HIV status, many more people know someone who has got an HIV positive status. This has all helped which doesn’t mean to say stigma has disappeared. It is still all too present, but it has diminished.”

Many more people know their HIV status, many more people know someone who has got an HIV positive status

South Africa is now a world leader in treatment programmes, supplying over 1.7 million infected people with ARVs. Even though South Africa still has the highest number of people infected with HIV, progress and new research and discoveries are being made every day.
Cameron is optimistic that we can stop this epidemic: “If we could find every person every last person today in our country, 5.6 or 5.7 million out of 49 million people who had HIV and reach them and say…start on treatment or stop doing any risk behaviours. We would stop this epidemic. So there is a lot more that we can do. We haven’t reached everyone who needs treatment.”

– By Tanja Bencun

Share article
Previous Post

Living Positively

Next Post

COPE, PAC wish DA a successful Congress

Related Posts

A weekly look at tech innovations and its impact.

TECH IMPACT: Cybercrime and emerging technologies growing threats to SA’s banking sector

8 August 2022, 8:56 PM
A road littered with bricks, debris and burning tyres in Tembisa, 03 August 2022.

A drizzle that fails to put out fires in protest-torn Tembisa

4 August 2022, 11:50 AM
South African rands displayed.

It’s problematic that ANC does not discuss macro-economic policy: Economist

1 August 2022, 12:00 PM
Minister Lindiwe Sisulu addressing an event.

Not enough is done to protect women: Sisulu

1 August 2022, 6:13 AM
ANC logo on display at Nasrec Exhibition Centre in Soweto ahead of the ANC's Policy Conference.

LISTICLE: Policy proposals from the ANC’s conference

31 July 2022, 6:15 PM
KZN ANC members  attend the Provincial conference in Durban, July 23, 2022

Middle class does not care about equality, they are educated to conform: Analyst

31 July 2022, 5:11 PM
Next Post
DA leader Helen Zille will open the party's 5th Federal Congress with a keynote address. Picture:SABC

COPE, PAC wish DA a successful Congress

Most Viewed

  • 24hrs
  • Week
  • Month
  • EMS says fire at Bree Street Taxi Rank in Johannesburg has been extinguished
  • The public has until 18 May to make submissions on Icasa’s regulations for extension of expiry period for data, airtime
  • ANC NEC expected to hold a special meeting on Sunday
  • Eastern Cape flood victims plead for support as access to food, services remains difficult
  • Amathole Regional Secretary elated to have corruption charges against him dropped
  • Pick n Pay launches new supermarket brand
  • Public has two weeks to make comments on proposed changes to pension funds
  • Elon Musk says he is buying Manchester United
  • Home Affairs tightens rules on passport application to curb corruption
  • 14-year-old Eastern Cape learner facing arm amputation after allegedly taking COVID-19 vaccine
  • Home Affairs clamps down on passport fraud and introduces transit visas
  • Mogalakwena Municipality in Limpopo directed to terminate appointment of more than 400 workers
  • Pick n Pay launches new supermarket brand
  • Public has two weeks to make comments on proposed changes to pension funds
  • Elon Musk says he is buying Manchester United

LATEST

Struggle veteran, Rita Ndzanga.
  • Politics

Rita Ndzanga was passionate about economic emancipation of women: Mokonyane


A South African Airways aircraft is seen at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa January 12, 2020.
  • Business

Satawu requests urgent meeting with Public Enterprises over SAA restructuring


ANC Chairperson of the ANC electoral committee Kgalema Motlanthe speaks at the party's media briefing in Johannesburg on 18 August 2022, on official nomination process and rules for the upcoming National Elective Conference.
  • Politics

ANC members accused of serious crimes won’t contest in elective conference: Motlanthe


Facebook's new rebrand logo Meta is seen on smartpone in front of displayed logo of Facebook, Messenger, Instagram.
  • Sci-tech

Asset managers on alert after ‘WhatsApp’ crackdown on banks


File image depicting handcuffs and police line.
  • South Africa

[WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT]: Two men burnt to death, one arrested following attempted kidnapping in Limpopo


Details of Rita Ndzanga's funeral are yet to be communicated.
  • Politics

Struggle veteran Rita Ndzanga passes away


Weather

  • About the SABC
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs
  • Advertise
  • Disclaimer
  • Site Map

SABC © 2022

No Result
View All Result
  • SOUTH AFRICA
  • POLITICS
  • BUSINESS
  • SPORT
  • AFRICA
  • WORLD
  • SCI-TECH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • FEATURES
  • OPINION

© 2022

Previous Living Positively
Next COPE, PAC wish DA a successful Congress