[ Home ] [ Speeches & statements ]

This week South Africans together with people across the globe are commemorating the International Candlelight Memorial, under the theme: One Voice, Many Faces: United for Life. A number of activities are planned during this week and this month to honour and remember all those who have lost their lives as a result of AIDS and to rededicate ourselves to support and care for all those who are in need, all those who are infected or affected by AIDS.

On this occasion, we renew our pledge to continue to support those who bear the pain of loss as they remember their loved ones who have died. We recommit ourselves to care for the sick and the needy through both moral support and practical measures.

We recommit ourselves to intensify our efforts to prevent discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS and to continue to mobilise all sectors of our society to fight against the disease.

We rededicate ourselves to ensure the effective implementation of the National Programme of Action and the Gauteng AIDS Strategy.

Within this context the Premier's Committee on AIDS, which as you know consists of the Executive Council and Heads of Department in the province, met yesterday to take stock of our progress as the Gauteng Provincial Government and to take the necessary steps to ensure that we continue to effectively implement our national and provincial plans.

I reported at the opening of the Legislature in February this year that we had launched local Intersectoral AIDS programmes in most municipalities as well as home-based care projects in each district. We also announced the extension of research sites on mother to child transmission, in addition to the existing sites at Chris Hani Baragwanath and Coronation Hospitals.

I am pleased to announce that JC Dumane Clinic and Natalspruit Hospital yesterday became the first of the additional sites announced earlier this year to become operational.

Our objective in this programme is to prevent babies born to HIV-positive mothers from themselves becoming HIV-positive or ill. The programme goes beyond simply a shot of Neviropene. It involves voluntary testing and follow up testing of those found to be HIV-positive. It involves ensuring that the appropriate midwifery practices are strictly adhered to. It involves advising mothers on the safe use of breast milk substitutes, it involves following up the babies, providing them with further health care and it involves further HIV tests. It involves counselling, education and support for a period of up to two years after the birth. It involves providing Neviropene and breast milk substitutes. It involves intensive training and orientation of staff. It involves monitoring the possible side effects due to the toxicity of the drug.

The Gauteng Department of Health has done extensive work in these areas in preparation for the implementation of this programme within the framework of the National AIDS Strategy. In line with the national AIDS strategy, we remain committed to do all in our power to contribute towards the prevention of mother to child transmission.

The loving and effective care of those affected and infected by AIDS is a critical focus of AIDS Care Week. We are providing support to families affected by AIDS with a specific focus on children and orphans, and working closely with NGOs and mobilising support. We have launched community care projects in a number of areas including Carletonville, Soshanguve and Bronkhorstspruit. Work is underway to develop further projects in Sebokeng and other areas.

We are also running 40 home-based care projects in the province. These are supporting people who are ill with AIDS as well as providing care services to families, providing advice, training, support, including basic supplies, and a wide range of community care programmes. The aim is to extend coverage to the whole population in the next few years. These programmes aim to reduce denial and discrimination and increase openness as well as strengthen practical support for people and their families.

Our local intersectoral programme across the province has made enormous strides, working together with local government, NGOs and community organisations, churches and support groups, taking the campaign on HIV/AIDS into every home, every street and every community across the province.

In line with the National programme of action the Premier's Committee on AIDS further took a decision to continue to encourage voluntary counselling and testing. We recognise that this is a decision which rests with each individual. It is a private decision that should not be coerced and that no one else can take on your behalf. However, we believe that knowing ones HIV status is in ones own interests. If a person knows their own HIV status, they can take appropriate steps. If a person is HIV-positive, it means they then have the opportunity to do what is necessary to get the support and care that they need, to ensure that they enjoy a long and productive life and to ensure that they do not infect others and are not reinfected themselves.

We also wish to use this opportunity to reassure the public that, contrary to reports, we have not closed down the Johannesburg Hospital AIDS clinic nor have we in any way reduced access to medical care for people with AIDS. The truth is that our health institutions across the province, our clinics and hospitals, are geared towards the treatment of the opportunistic diseases that afflict people living with AIDS and that we have put significant resources into this.

In addition to the enormous responsibilities which the AIDS pandemic thrusts upon us as a provincial government in relation to the people of the province, we also have responsibilities as an employer of roughly 124 000 people. In this regard the Premier's Committee on AIDS also received reports on the important progress being made in implementing workplace programmes by different provincial departments, which includes a training programme which has so far trained 1033 staff as trainers who have in turn trained other public servants throughout the province.

As we mark International AIDS Candlelight Memorial Day, let us rededicate ourselves to intensify the fight against HIV/AIDS. Let us commit ourselves to ensure that no person with AIDS ever again dies a cold and lonely death. Together as government, NGOs, churches, civic bodies, young and old, men and women, let us pledge to stand together to provide the love and support that people living with AIDS deserve. Let us in every home, in every workplace and in every community be true to our claim to be a caring nation.

Issued by: Office of the Premier, Gauteng, 17 May 2001