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14 Jul 2010

Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe will on 16 July 2010, depart South Africa leading a high level government delegation that will represent South Africa at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna, Austria convened under the theme: “Rights here, right now” from 18 to 23 July 2010.

Deputy President Motlanthe will be supported at the conference by Health Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi and Public Works Deputy Minister, Ms Henrietta Bogopane-Zulu.

South Africa’s participation at this year’s conference comes amid an unprecedented massive HIV Counselling and Testing (HCT) campaign launched by President Jacob Zuma in April this year. This campaign seeks to test about 15 million people for HIV by June next year while also promoting positive sex behaviour.

On World AIDS Day in December last year, President Zuma announced far-reaching policy interventions around treatment initiating patients on antiretroviral (ARVs) far sooner than was the case before amongst others.

The Vienna conference provides South Africa with a platform to demonstrate the importance of sustained investments in HIV in achieving broader national and international health and development goals. At the conference the health minister will deliver an address during the plenary session of day three of the conference focusing on the theme of universal access and treatment scale-up.

South Africa’s delegation at the conference will also provide a progress report against the indicators identified in the Declaration of Commitment signed by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly Special Session on

HIV and AIDS (UNGASS) in June 2001. Key among these commitments was the realisation of universal access to HIV prevention and treatment interventions by 2010.

For more information please contact:
Vusi Mona
Cell: 082 047 2260

Fidel Hadebe
Tel: 079 517 3333

Issued by: Department of International Relations and Cooperation
14 Jul 2010

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