Western Cape renews effort to close HIV treatment gaps on World AIDS Day
A community event was held at Gustrouw Community Day Centre in Strand on Monday, December 1, where health teams, civil society organisations, and residents gathered to honour those lost to AIDS-related illnesses and to highlight the importance of staying on treatment. From left: Ntsindiso Nomayela, operational manager at the day centre and Sister Aisha Salie, the facility manager.
Image: Supplied
The Western Cape Department of Health and Wellness has renewed its call for residents living with HIV to return to care as the province marked World AIDS Day under the global theme “Overcoming Disruption, Transforming the AIDS Response.”
A community event was held at Gustrouw Community Day Centre in Strand on Monday, December 1, where health teams, civil society organisations, and residents gathered to honour those lost to AIDS-related illnesses and to highlight the importance of staying on treatment.
Gustrouw day centre facility manager, Sister Aisha Salie, said the event helped strengthen awareness and support within the community.
"The health talk and programme helped raise awareness, educate our patients, and strengthen our commitment to fighting HIV. We thank everyone who participated and look forward to continuing this vital work to improve health outcomes in our community," she said.
According to the Provincial Health Data Centre, more than 111 000 people living with HIV in the Western Cape have not accessed care in the past two years. The gap threatens progress toward the global 95-95-95 targets, which aim for 95% of people who know their HIV status to be on treatment and virally suppressed.
Currently, the province sits at 89% of people knowing their status, 73% on treatment, and 84% of those on treatment are virally suppressed, according to Abulele Dyasi, the department's spokesperson.
This year also marks 21 years of free antiretroviral therapy in South Africa, a milestone public health leaders say has saved millions of lives.
The department has introduced several initiatives to encourage more people to test and stay in care, particularly following donor funding cuts that affected HIV testing and counselling services nationally.
These initiatives include:
Clinician-led HIV testing through the Advise–Consent–Test–Support (ACTS) project, where nurses and doctors routinely offer HIV testing at all patient contact points.
Multi-month medicine refills to reduce clinic visits for stable patients.
Continued access to PrEP and PEP for HIV prevention.
Wellness hubs in communities to make services more accessible.
Integrated TB screening and treatment at every patient interaction.