The Western Cape has announced three additional sites to provide antiretrovirals to people living with HIV and Aids in the province, further boosting the provincial government's fight against the disease.

This brings to 16 the number of such sites in operation in the province.

The new sites are in Mitchell's Plain, Beaufort West, and the Hottentots Holland Hospital in Somerset West.

The others providing ARV treatment to 2 000 patients already are in Gugulethu, Langa, three in Khayelitsha, Hout Bay, Mannenberg, Tygerberg, Paarl, George, Worcester, and at Groote Schuur and the Red Cross Children's Hospital.

Making this announcement in Mitchell's Plain today, Premier Marthinus van Schalkwyk said the provincial government would not rest until all who needed the drugs accessed them.

"We understand and share their determination to use every resource at our disposal to prevent new infections, to treat those already infected and to win the war against Aids in the Western Cape," said Van Schalkwyk.

At least 20 new patients will commence treatment in Mitchell's Plain and another 20 in Beaufort West over the next six weeks, with the Hottentots Holland Hospital due to commence at the end of March.

The Premier said this "vital" achievement had been made possible by a number of important developments, including the negotiations that had brought ARV treatment prices to below R400/patient/month compared to more than R10 000/patient/month just two years ago.

"We now have access to the lowest priced ARV drugs in South Africa," he said. He added other assistance had come from domestic and international partners like Crusaid in the UK, Doctors Without Borders, and the Global Fund Against Aids, TB and Malaria. The latter last year approved more than R455-million for the treatment and prevention of the disease in the Western Cape alone.

The funds were approved in principle for over a five-year period.

However, the Premier attributed the "success" to the dedication, commitment, expertise and passion of health-care professionals in the province. "If our province deserves praise for how rapidly we are advancing our fight against Aids, it is they who deserve the credit," he said.

Nevertheless, he called for a solution to the serious shortage of these professionals in the primary health care facilities where most of the treatment sites were situated. "We need your help to ensure that our treatment programme is rolled out even more effectively and more rapidly to our people." – BuaNews.