FREE DAILY EMAIL

Date : 29/07/2003
Source: Department of Health
Title: R Schoeman: Wentworth AIDS Action Group


SPEECH BY RENIER SCHOEMAN, MP, DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH TO THE WENTWORTH AIDS ACTION GROUP, Durban, 29 July 2003

The main purpose of my participation tonight is to express my unqualified support for the role of organisations like yours and volunteers like yourselves and countless others across the length and breadth of South Africa, who are working hard to promote a variety of activity to counter and alleviate the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

However, AIDS is currently very topical and very much in the minds of South Africans for two reasons.

The first is that next week, SA will be hosting a major international conference on HIV/AIDS right here in Durban.

The conference, attended by 3000 representatives from 52 countries, has also been supported as a project by the Department of Health as part of its wide-ranging ongoing efforts to deal with AIDS.

The second reason is that the Government is expected, in the near future, to take a decision on a report of the joint Department of Health and National Treasury Task Team on treatment options to supplement the comprehensive programme for HIV/AIDS in the public sector.

I would therefore wish to repeat the view, which I have expressed in Parliament on two occasions in the past three months, namely that the party to which I belong as I serve in the national government believes that a decision should be taken, in principle, to take certain steps, as follows.

"We say South Africa has a moral duty to assist the millions of our fellow citizens who are infected with HIV/AIDS. We must intensify our war against the pandemic. In this war we must stop at nothing to win. The NNP therefore calls on Government to urgently spell out its road map for comprehensively treating the millions of South Africans already infected - especially with regard to rolling-out the use of anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment.

The additional R3.3 billion in this year's budget for fighting AIDS is great news. Combined with the massive awareness campaigns, home-based care initiatives, voluntary testing and counselling and a range of other measures, it shows that government is serious about this battle - but the critical element which is still missing at this stage is a plan for harnessing ARV drugs as part of the national treatment strategy.

We believe that for the millions of people who are living with HIV, a clear, unequivocal commitment from government will provide a great hope for those who need it most and this needs to happen as soon as possible."

EXTENT OF PROBLEM AND ROLE OF NGO's AND CBO's

The HIV and AIDS epidemic poses one of the greatest challenges to South Africa. The challenge lies in powerful and continuous action to prevent new infections and to provide care and support for the many who are infected or affected. It is therefore a great honour for me to visit the Wentworth AIDS Action Group and to see the difference that you are making in the lives of the many infected and affected people of Wentworth.

It is a known fact that the epidemic tends to affect every community. People from all walks of life are infected and affected, but it is tearing hardest at society's margins, claiming lives, destroying families and testing community compassion. HIV and AIDS are also forcing communities to focus on much more complex societal and moral issues such as violence, sexual abuse, death, children orphaned by AIDS etc.

We all know that Africa is severely impacted by HIV, AIDS, TB, malaria and many other infectious diseases. We also know that poverty, underdevelopment, instability, war and natural disaster have raged the continent for a long time.

Many of you are aware that in spite of the extensive range of interventions we have in place, we are constantly under criticism and under pressure to do more, which we understand.

An organisation such as yours is crucial to assist us with the burden that HIV, AIDS and TB are placing on the health system. We must work together and share resources and expertise. A critical message that your as volunteers are sending out is that the response to HIV and AIDS in South Africa is not and cannot be a health sector responsibility only. We need voluntary community-based organisations to assist us with the provision of home-based care and we need assistance with the training of the families that need to care and support those that are ill as a result of AIDS.

Government, CBOs and NGOs need to work collaboratively. Within government, the commitment is to provide access to basic services. This is already one way of decreasing the vulnerability of individuals to ill health.

As I said earlier, the challenges seem enormous and the truth it they are. What is exciting about all this is the fact that we have the ability to respond successfully. We have come a long way in our struggle and we cannot allow HIV to destroy what we have built. The challenge is to be honest, open and critical of ourselves.

We, as government have gone far in putting key programmes in place to respond to HIV, AIDS, STIs and TB. Government, together with NGOs and CBOs developed the 5-year HIV and AIDS and STI Strategic Plan for South Africa. The Plan is a broad framework document designed to guide our country's response to the challenges of HIV and AIDS.

It highlights four key priority areas for South Africa:
a. Prevention
b. Treatment, care and support for those who are infected and affected
c. Research, monitoring and surveillance in order to understand the evolution of the epidemic
d. Human rights and legal issues

The rationale for such an approach is quite straightforward; prevention is much cheaper than treatment and avoids the sickness and death that are the final outcome of this infection.

Crucial to an effective country response was the allocation of more resources for key interventions. Over the last four years more resources have been allocated to units that are key to policy formulation and development of guidelines within government. Financial support for other key roleplayers such as NGOs and CBOs has been increased through a number of departments and other international donor agencies. Health alone provides R45 million for NGO and CBO funding.

The Departments of Agriculture, Social Development and Health have taken poverty alleviation to heart, and have in the last year escalated efforts to address it. One such initiative is the Integrated Food Security and Nutrition Programme that made R400 million available to provide relief to needy families, irrespective of HIV status.

However, there is also a need to address poverty and nutrition for those people with HIV, as there is an opportunity to slow their progress to AIDS and increase the number of years they remain healthy and productive. To this end the Department of Health is finalising a document that will address nutritional interventions of people living with HIV/AIDS, as well as patients with TB.

Building the nutritional status of people is very important, especially in the context of HIV and AIDS. Boosting the immune system has a drastic impact on quality of life, and ensures that drugs taken to address specific infections has optimal efficacy.

Addressing poverty and nutrition can happen at a multitude of levels -and one of those is through the provision of nutritional supplements and food parcels.

The provision of free condoms - both male and female - and the provision of information and education through formal and informal channels are also some of the key strategies fully funded by the government. research in the area of vaccine development is ongoing through financial support from government and other private institutions.

However, whereas the national government is responsibility for broad policy and guidance, it is critical that organisations at local level plan jointly to address common problems. It is only through mobilising the resources of local government, business, faith-based organisations, traditional leaders and other stakeholders towards the specific needs of a community that success can be ensured. The national government can set the policy framework, but can never know the skills and resources available in individual communities.

In South Africa, we are privileged to be in a position to expand into specialised non-governmental and community-based organisations, one being in Wentworth, because we are no longer only dealing with information and referrals, or pre and post test counselling any more, but with people that are faced with the challenges of living with the disease. This affects partners, the individual's functioning, job losses and issues such as discrimination.

I want to give credit where credit is due and thank everyone in this room. And I want to thank you on behalf of government. As volunteers you take care of the many infected and affected families of Wentworth and you will continue to make a difference in the lives of many of these people in the future.

Thank you one and all

Source: Department of Health (http://www.doh.gov.za)

SPONSORED BY

Advanced