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Date : 21/11/2002
Source: Northern Cape Provincial Government
Title: Dipico: World AIDS Day road show


ADDRESS BY THE NORTHERN CAPE PREMIER, MR MANNE DIPICO, AT THE WORLD AIDS DAY ROAD SHOW HELD IN DELPORTSHOOP, 21 November 2002

The Programme Director
The Mayor of the Frances Baard District
All Mayors present today
The Councillors of all Municipalities in the area
Honoured Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen

I am honoured to be part of this World AIDS Day Road Show, which is a build-up event towards the National World AIDS Day clebrations to be held on 1 December 2002 at Kimberley ABSA Stadium.

HIV/AIDS has been with us for some time now, but it remains a problem that threatens the future of our children. We are making some progress in understanding this challenge, but we still have a long way to go in containing its spread.

Although people from all walks of life are affected, AIDS is hitting hard at the most vulnerable sections of our society. It is the poor, the illiterate, the marginalised, the women and the children who bear most of the burden of the HIV epidemic.

The face of HIV/AIDS in South Africa has become more complex over the past years. We are no longer only dealing with information and awareness, but also with the reality of caring for people living with the disease.

Ladies and gentlemen, the call to fight HIV/AIDS is important, as we all know that it is only us who can liberate ourselves from the threat posed by this preventable disease.

Our preventative child health services have increased by 12% in the last three years, but we still have a problem of diseases like TB, kwashiorkor and alcohol syndrome, which are also as a result of poverty and abuse of alcohol.

We must take care of our women and children, otherwise our society will be seen as irresponsible, inconsistent with no sense of family hood.

HIV/AIDS and TB is a lethal combination. Thus, we should double our efforts to fight TB because TB can be cured even if you are HIV positive. We should assist to monitor our family members to take their treatment for TB.

Although there is more than 54.6% of smear conversion rate in this region, TB is still a problem in the Frances Baard Region and there are many people who are still defaulting on their treatment and this results to multi-drug resistance which is when your system refuses to respond to the medication.

All our efforts must be complemented by your commitment to assist those of us who must take the required medication.

Early this year, in April, the government released a statement of commitment to fighting and supporting all initiatives geared at combating the spread of this epidemic.

A total budget of R1 billion during this financial year 2002/03 was committed and it will increase to R1.8 billion in 2003/4.

Cabinet also went further to announce a new campaign, which will be a paradigm shift, from awareness to lifestyle change and managing HIV/AIDS.

This new campaign was informed by the research that has been conducted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that our awareness campaign has reached 97% of the population.

Therefore, we need to move faster in the advocacy for behavioural modification and managing the current HIV/AIDS prevalence cases.

Ladies and gentlemen, the cabinet statement was also premised from the belief that HIV causes AIDS and that our HIV/AIDS and STI strategic plan for 2000-2005 is still relevant towards the creation of a better healthy life for all.

We, as the ANC led Government, believe that this strategic plan has a strong critical element towards focusing on behavioural change and whilst managing opportunistic infections to those living with the disease.

On the 10th of September this year, government announced another critical partnership programme which is a new campaign within the context of home community based care called "Khomanani", a Tsonga word meaning caring for, or supporting those who are infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.

"Khomanani" re-emphasises the importance of preventing the spread of the virus, but adds the need to care enough to give support those who need it. Its theme is based on the assumption that we are all living with HIV/AIDS.

Together we can live positively.

It is campaign that calls on all of us to be responsible and respect the rights of those living with HIV/AIDS by stopping to marginalise and stigmatise them.

Ladies and gentlemen, a few weeks ago we hosted a provincial home-based care conference in Barkley West, which was subsequently followed by a national conference of home community-based caregivers in Rustenburg. This was a major boost to caregivers.

The conference is another indication of how the ANC government cares about its people. All caregivers have gathered to share experiences on the best, world-class methods of giving our people care and hope.

Community home-based care in our province is vital, because it gives us the opportunity to take full responsibility to care for our people.

We have taken a conscious decision as a provincial government this year, which I announced during my budget speech, that we are going to spend R2, 604 million in this programme because it is an extension of the health services we are providing to our people.

The other challenge for us as informed by "Khomanani" home community-based care is for us to know our status.

Since coming to power the ANC government has introduced a voluntary, counselling and testing (VCT) programme for our people to know their HIV/AIDS status.

The reality, ladies and gentlemen, is that a vast majority of our people are undiagnosed. They do not know their HIV status.

Some of them are already falling ill but they do not know that their illnesses are related to HIV/AIDS. And even if they do know or suspect, they are reluctant to come out and talk about their condition.

VCT is one solution - we have to empower our people through the pre-counselling and post-counselling services that we render.

Many young people know about the campaign led by the government through our Youth Commission in partnership with people living with HIV/AIDS. The campaign is called "Young Positive Living Ambassador".

Ladies and gentlemen, whilst we are strengthening our partnership against HIV/AIDS we need to act responsibly. We need to reduce the number of sexually transmitted infection cases amongst our people. This can only happen if we visit our clinics as soon as we notice signs of STDs or STIs.

We need to be up-front in this war against HIV/AIDS by doing everything to avoid the spread of this killer disease by abstaining and economising and being faithful to our partners.

Sexually transmitted infections are a foundation for the infection of HIV/AIDS, if not treated properly. Our public health institutions have a good and successful treatment rate.

A comprehensive treatment package is available in all our facilities for this purpose.

If we can all subscribe to this ABC strategy, which is a possible thing, we will reduce the number of orphans and child-led families.

We will even discourage the intention of those whom after presenting at our VCT and living positively to plan children.

Ladies and gentlemen, this noble campaign also brings me to one area that we ignore, which is teenage pregnancy.

Many of our people, especially the youth, become sexually active without using protection in the form of condoms, and this places them at the risk of contracting HIV/AIDS and becoming victims of unwanted pregnancy.

The result of that is that it places the burden on the government and them to deal with a situation that could have been prevented. Children that cannot be cared for because the parent himself or herself is a child that needs to be cared for.

We have then decided as the government to launch our Termination of Pregnancy (TOP) sites in Kimberley and Upington-Gordonia Hospital. We are investigating a possibility of opening up this service in De Aar and Springbok in future.

TOP is not a contraceptive, but a programme to assist, especially victims of sexual abuse (rape) and those who have fallen prey of unwanted pregnancy.

It is a programme that will continue because we firmly believe that it is a service that is critical to stop dangerous back street abortions.

We have taken a decision to extend the PMTCT (programme of mother-to-child transmission) in the fight against HIV/AIDS. In December this year we will officially extend the service to cater for all our people in the districts and beyond to benefit.

Our commitment still remains as part of our Hospital Revitalisation Programme to upgrade our hospitals to render quality health services to our people.

All this long distance travelling, ladies and gentlemen, for health services is a result of a system that didn't have respect for our people's rights to health.

The public health system of our country was fragmented and since 1994 we have successfully integrated it into a single and effective public health to serve our people towards the creation of a better, healthy life for all.

We have also committed ourselves to invest in human resources to the benefit of our people's health. This is evident by the increase of student nurses at our college, from 20 last year to 40 this yea.r and we intend taking that to 60 for next year.

We call on young people from this district to apply because the primary purpose of this increment of student nurses is to train nurses from all districts to address the shortage of nurses especially in our rural areas.

We have also recently given scholarships to 5 students from the province to study medicine in Cuba, compared to 2 we sent last year.

We intend to increase the next group of students to study in Cuba, but we appeal to our young people to study in the field of sciences to stand a good chance.

This year our theme is that we must care enough to give. We must all make contributions through donations in whatever form to give to NGOs to distribute to orphans and those neglected people living with the disease.

Currently, throughout the country, all Pick 'n Pay outlets will be accepting donations or contributions towards this cause, and I appeal to the community of Frances Baard Region to support this noble initiative. This is also important because it strengthens the spirit of partnership that we are emphasising towards the creation of a better, healthy South Africa.

All this, ladies and gentlemen, you will agree with me, is a clear indication of the ANC government's commitment to the creation of a better, healthy life for all our people.

I thank you.

For further information contact Poka "Thabo" Lekhu @ 083 448 9158

Issued by the Ministry of Health, Northern Cape Provincial Government 21 November 2002

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