Pretoria - Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi says sexual and reproductive health services need to be part of South Africa’s integrated school health programme.
“The issue of teenage pregnancies needs to be tackled head-on. I have said before that we cannot continue to pretend that our young people are not sexually active,” said Dr Motsoaledi.
Motsoaledi made the remarks on Tuesday evening, while officially opening the 6th South African Aids Conference currently taking place in Durban at Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre.
He made the remarks in the context of recent data that 15.5% of all deaths reported occur in people of 24 and younger, with HIV and Aids being the major cause of the deaths contributing 50%. Data also showed that women of reproductive age are also largely dying in child birth and that HIV and Aids is also associated with 50% of these deaths.
However, Dr Motsoaledi highlighted that recent developments in providing anti-retroviral treatment to people meant more people were receiving life-saving medicines and that 2.1 million people in South Africa were on ARVs.
“Data indicated 80% of women and 65% of men and children are on ARV treatment. This means that whilst we are doing well with putting women on treatment we need to do better on men and children. This means that we must do better in getting to men at workplaces, in communities and their homes. I again look forward to innovative ideas from this conference,” Minister Motsoaledi said.
Vision 2030
Referring to the government’s National Development Plan or Vision 2030, Dr Motsoaledi noted this was the first time in the history of the country that such a plan was produced, adding that any programme on HIV and Aids could not be discussed without reflecting on this plan.
“A health system that works for everyone and produces positive health outcomes is not out of reach. It is possible to raise the life expectancy of South Africans to at least 70 years, ensure that a generation of under-20s is largely free of HIV and that the burden of disease is significantly reduced,” he said, quoting the NDP.
The Minister added that conditions for research into HIV and Aids need to be created in South Africa and he was confident that the collective of researchers, academics, implementers and development partners in South Africa were up to the task of conducting world-class research in this field.
“South Africa has imminent and world-class researchers. If there are any serious advances that must be done in the field of HIV and Aids, such advances must emerge from Africa and nowhere else.”
Strides made in tackling HIV, Aids
Conference Chairperson Professor Koleka Mlisana said many strides had been made in tackling HIV and Aids in South Africa.
Professor Mlisana said more women were being tested for HIV and that 91.7% of them were receiving anti-retroviral treatment. She highlighted that more ARV providing facilities had been established and that quicker diagnosis of TB through the GeneXpert programme was paying dividends.
Despite these advances, she said, much still needed to be done, the battle is only half over. She also added that whatever response was achieved needed to be sustained for the next 15 years to ensure it was effective and produced lasting results.
“Our future focus needs to ensure we tailor our programmes to those who are most at risk and in need, they need to be youth friendly. We also need to simplify and integrate sustainable programmes, we need social behavioural researchers to interrogate adherence issues and we need to continue our search for effective prevention,” she said.
She added that these issues were encompassed in the conference theme of “Building on Success; Integrating Systems” and that achieving this would be one of the most important outcomes of the three-day conference.
Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe will officially close the conference on Friday. – SAnews.gov.za
