9 October 2002
Ethembeni Place of Hope, Doornfontein, 9 October 2002
Fellow South Africans,
Today we are marking the fourth anniversary of the Partnership Against AIDS, which was launched by President Thabo Mbeki on the 9th of October 1998.
I am especially glad to be speaking to you from the very place where the Partnership was launched, at the Ethembeni Place of Hope, which gives hope to so many children in need.
It is quite appropriate that we should return to this venue to rededicate the country to the partnership in fighting AIDS, especially since on the 17th of April this year, government launched a Campaign of Hope, calling upon all South Africans to strengthen the Partnership Against Aids. We are convinced that we are on the right track with regards to responding to the epidemic. However, we cannot fight this battle alone as Gover!nment.
We are therefore pleased to see that various sectors from business, labour, women, youth, traditional healers, traditional leaders, transport sector, entertainment sector, scientific community, media and others, continue to play their role to strengthen the country's response to the epidemic.
It is encouraging that new sectors are constantly becoming involved:
You would be aware that to strengthen the multi-sectoral partnership further, the South African National Aids Council met on 5 October 2002, to review its effectiveness over the first two and a half years of its existence in strengthening the partnership of all sectors of South African society to fight HIV/AIDS. It decided to streamline its operations; strengthen its Secretariat, broaden non-governmental sector representation and to move to a position in which sector representatives are selected by the sectors themselves in a transparent manner. Resources are critical in this battle. It is therefore important to note that South Africa has been allocated a total of R1, 8 billion through the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and malaria, in the Fund's first round of allocations. SANAC has now endorsed a second round of submissions to the Global Fund.
Compatriots, as we celebrate the Partnership, let us remember that we all have a responsibility to fight the stigma attached to HIV/AIDS, and to provide care and support to each other. We must remember that there is no longer a distinction between people living with HIV/AIDS, and those NOT living with the disease. We are all affected and should work together to ease the suffering and pain, and to strengthen our response. In a few weeks' time, we will once again commemorate World AIDS Day, on the 1st of December. The national World Aids Day event will be held in Kimberley, in the Northern Cape. In the spirit of Letsema and Ubuntu, this year our nation will focus of the notion of caring enough to help others -in line with the international theme, "Live and Let Live". This builds on last year's theme of, "I Care Enough to Act".
This requires us to make an effort to assist our neighbours, friends and relatives in need through giving whatever we can donate, to alleviate suffering and need. Government is intensifying efforts to assist families affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, through the Departments of Health, Social Development and Education. This includes foster-care grants, assistance to child-headed households and food parcels. Following a conference on Home and Community Based Care in September, the programme took another step forward. All provincial co-ordinators of the home and community based care programmes - of which there are now nearly five hundred, are to receive home and community care based care kits by November to be used by nurses and lay counsellors.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am also particularly pleased to be at Ethembeni in October, as this is National Children's Rights Month. We should during this month remember all children, those living with HIV/AIDS, the orphans, those facing malnutrition and all other children in distress, and play our role in assisting them in whatever way we can. The tragedy of children living with HIV and AIDS cannot fail to move us as Government. Following the ruling of the Constitutional Court on Nevirapine, all provinces have been provided with guidelines for the implementation of the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission programme. Provinces will expand the services according to their differing capacities, monitored by national government. Training is in progress on the basis of the provincial rollout plans. Already, KwaZulu/Natal, Gauteng and Northwest and Western Cape Provinces have extended coverage to a significant number of their health institutions and other provinces are following suit. We have also received R100 million from the United States Government for the expansion of this prevention programme. On the fourth anniversary of the Partnership Against Aids, let us join hands so that we can together build on the progress that has been made in the fight against the epidemic, to intensify the campaign of hope.
Let us today, draw strength from our collective experiences, and once again, come together as South Africans to ensure that we begin to turn the tide against HIV/AIDS.
I thank you.