Department spokesperson Tebogo Lekgethwane said a total of 2 965 nurses have been trained to administer ARVs in an effort to increase access and capacity to those who need treatment.
"An additional 245 community counsellors have been trained on finger pricking to complement nurses in conducting HIV Counselling and Testing," said Lekgethwane.
Since President Jacob Zuma announced the policy change on HIV in 2009, the country has seen an increase in number of people accessing treatment.
Zuma announced on World Aids Day of that year that patients infected with TB and HIV and Aids would receive ARV treatment when their CD4 count is at 350 or less.
Another new change in policy is that all pregnant HIV positive women with a CD4 count of 350 or with symptoms, regardless of their CD4 count, will now have access to treatment. Previously, HIV positive pregnant women were eligible for treatment if their CD4 count was less than 200.
All other pregnant women not falling into this category, but who are HIV positive, are now put on treatment at 14 weeks of pregnancy to protect the baby. In the past, this was only started during the last term of pregnancy.
Also, all children under the age of one are now receiving treatment if they test positive and initiating treatment is not determined by the level of CD cells.
