RAMAPHOSA: Achieving 75% Reduction In HIV Infections Likely To End AIDS As A Public Health Threat by 2030

CYRIL RAMAPHOSA

AS WE continue our efforts to manage the devastating coronavirus pandemic, we cannot ignore the other public health challenges that our country faces.
 
For more than three decades, our country has been engaged in an ongoing struggle against HIV and AIDS, which has cost many lives and caused great hardship and suffering.
 
Tomorrow, we will join people across the globe in marking World AIDS Day. As the Chair of the South African National AIDS Council, Deputy President David Mabuza will lead the national commemoration with an address on progress in the country’s response.
 
This year, World AIDS Day is taking place under difficult conditions.
 
Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country, with the nation-wide lockdown and the pressure on our health facilities, many HIV, AIDS and tuberculosis services have suffered. This has posed a challenge for people testing and starting antiretroviral treatment. Many