The Mpumalanga premier, Mandla Ndlovu, said in a statement last Wednesday, October 2, that a strong partnership between all government institutions, the community and funding agencies is a solution to overcome the prevalence of HIV in the province.
Ndlovu convened a sitting of the Mpumalanga Provincial Aids Council on Monday, September 30, to explore measures to reduce new HIV infections. This comes after the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) released its key findings of the Sixth South African HIV Prevalence, Incidence and Behaviour Survey for Mpumalanga on September 17.
The survey found that, compared to other provinces, Mpumalanga had the highest HIV prevalence at 17.4% in 2022 compared to the 19.4% in 2017. This translates to an estimated 890 000 people in the province living with HIV.
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MECs, executive mayors, community representatives, development partners and funding agencies participated in the session. Ndlovu said the HSRC research is an essential planning tool to ensure a proper deployment of resources to where they are needed most.
“We have been advised that prevention is cheaper than treatment. Therefore, all of us must make the topic of HIV a part of our engagement with our communities in all public platforms. In so doing, we will mobilise our communities to test for HIV, and to start those who test positive on the ARV [antiretroviral] programme for viral suppression,” he said.
“The HSRC survey report depicts Gert Sibande District as the one leading with the highest HIV prevalence in Mpumalanga with 20.5%, and the Nkangala District with the lowest figures at 13.1%. Ehlanzeni District recorded 16%.”
The province is also listed among the three with the highest number of people on the ARV programme in the country. “Efforts are being intensified to ensure that the international targets of 95-95-95 are realised. The targets are designed to mobilise communities to get tested in order to know their status and to encourage those who test positive to get started on the ARV programme. So far, 87.3% of people in the province are aware of their status and 94.5% are on ARV treatment,” he said.
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The sitting resolved the following: to adopt a long-term strategy to care for those who test positive, to heighten campaigns that promote the use of ARVs among the youth and adult men, to increase the number of male circumcisions done from the age of 15 years and to enhance accurate public awareness of effective HIV prevention measures, which includes the use of condoms.
Mpumalanga News
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