Health Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, has urged men to actively participate in the fight against HIV and AIDS. This comes as he kicked off a campaign aimed at enrolling 1.1 million individuals in HIV treatment by December 2025.
Statistics show that 65% of those tested in a 2010 campaign were women, underscoring the need for increased male participation. “When you go to the clinic, you don't find men. Now, when we ask them-after realising that less than 30% of them are testing-they say, ‘My wife has tested…’ Please help women fight this battle,” the Minister urged attendees recently at an event held at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in Soweto, Johannesburg.
He officially launched the campaign in collaboration with the South African National AIDS Council and other stakeholders in the health sector. The drive is part of the country’s ongoing interventions to enhance the uptake of life-saving HIV treatment and ensure that 95% of people diagnosed with HIV receive and adhere to antiretroviral therapy to achieve viral suppression. South Africa has 7.8 million people living with HIV and 7.5 million of them know their status, while at least 5.9 million are on ARV treatment.
The country is making progress towards achieving the ambitious targets, but despite these remarkable achievements, significant challenges persist in prevention, treatment initiation, adherence to ART and retention in care. The gathering focused on the launch of a campaign to eliminate HIV and AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. The campaign also aims to build on past successes in eradicating diseases like smallpox and polio, emphasising the need for collective will and action.
The Minister urged action against tuberculosis (TB), citing the history of neglecting other diseases.
“We have known about the existence of TB since 1882. But with other diseases, we were able to get rid of them. For instance, the world eliminated smallpox after it infected 300 million people because there were campaigns to eradicate it. There was a vaccine, but that vaccine did not just get into people’s bodies. Men and women stood up, ran across every length and breadth of the world, every corner of the world, and vaccinated people.” He used the platform to urge everyone, particularly men, to take an active role in contributing to this critical battle. Dr Motsoaledi also announced that the campaign aims to address cervical cancer.
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