Govt steps up fight against Aids

Hear, Hear ... Mr President !!!
Hear, Hear !!!

Thank you Mr President!

Now even the poor TB patients will die from antiretrovirals. Please do your own research and find out the truth about HIV/AIDS/ANTIRETROVIRALS. You can start by checking out the www.virusmyth.com

This is excellent news.

We welcome the new mergers by our Pres Zuma, we urged all healthcare workers to take this issue with care and zeal, we hope our healthcare resources would be adequate to handle more patients, and we urged our people to be responsible, and use ABC which was implemented under Thabo Mbeki reign, because we don't have a core for AIDS, and we have other pressing needs as country, the rural development needs funding, Urban renewal also need it, basic services to the masses needs funding too.Philani@Umlazi

"What does it not mean? It does not mean that we should be irresponsible in our sexual practices," Zuma said to roaring applause. I wonder if he is the right person to make such remarks, after what we know about his sexual practices and taking a shower afterwards. Very convincing indeed !

OK OK OK, Credit where credit is due. Well done Mr Zuma. (Nosipho, you are probably, hell, I am sure you are right, but just for the moment let us give him the benefit of the doubt) Having said that I remain sceptical about this okes real motivations, I mean he is a political animal. That means anything could happen.

right. so if you have got TB & aids, and your CD4 count is 350 or less you get ARVs.
If preggers and have aids and CD4 count is 350 or less you get ARVs
but if you have neither TB nor a bun in the oven you still have to get below CD4 count of 200. which is the stage at which you get ill and your body is no longer strong enough to fight infection.. why wait till that stage?
why not have it around 500 for all, regardless of condition?
also, what is the capability of health institutions to properly administer this? they aren't currently in the best shape in the world (e.g. hospitals that require you to bring your own linen...? what?) - so how do the set up an effective program?
is this the right step or is this just more populist stuff ala 500000 jobs by year end.
there isn't really to much credit due here alas..
praise singers clutching at straws..

It's World Aids day today. Showers are forecast for South Africa.

Mhmm. So we dripe UP the road on the one day and drive DOWN the road the next day. Interesting. Personally, I am curious to know what the economic costs of HIV/Aids politics have cost this country so far. (Please do not use the 5.5-million figure of people predicted in 2000 as likely to be infected in 2010 and which figure, incidentally; has now since rose to an "estimated" 5.7-million in 2009.)

Increasing the limit for accessing retrovirals to a CD4 count of 350 only serves to increase the proportion of those not accessing the drugs from the current 50% to 70% (assuming you include all), meaning the the target of 80% acess just becomes further away. If we had reached at least 80% of those with a CD4 count of 200 before increase the number of those eligible for treatment before INCREASING the pool of those with a right to access (Maybe, Ian Macintosh, that is why if you neither have a bun nor TB, you are outside the pool of those eligible). It is clever politiking. You are right Apocalypse now, when you say our President is a political animal, he is a very serious one at that. Maybe the pool of those eligible does not grow by that much after all !!

Our health workers must now take this opportunity and assist the govt. to reduce this scourge! The PRES. HAS TAKEN THE LEAD AND WE SALUTE HIM FOR THAT!

Let us stop arguing and work together to educate our people on safe sex. I do not care who picks up the banner to fight the fight,just as long as it is in the right direction. For the first time the ANC is going in the right direction let us do the same.

Build some ablution blocks in shanty towns... "Then they can have a shower!"

Marc and Marius...thank you; you brightened my day :)

"TB and HIV/Aids will now be treated under one roof." Quick. Get the man with the dangerous, hard to cure, lung disease in the same place as the person with the depressed immune system? Is this really a good idea

Wider provision of ARVs is to be applauded. Zackie Achmat and others who have been pressing for ARV treatment for all who need are inspirational figures for me. Annie Lennox has written a blog for World Aids Day on the TAC and their amazing work: http://blogs.oxfam.org/en/blog/09-12-01-demanding-aids-justice

We must continue to encourage governments to bridge the gap between need and provision of ARVs.

Animal Farm-1209 hopes that te people's hopes are not being raised for politicing but that our people are about to get help.

Anything and/or Anyone that works for the betterment of our people should be supported in that work.

Animal Farm-1209 is for a healthy lifestyle!!

This is not a brain wave. What are the standards in this country?? There's a long way to go. No mention how this will be funded. The likelihood of this succeeding is very low, as you will agree if you or any member of your family or friends have had the misfortune of landing in a hospital in South Africa recently.

This is excellent news - thank you, and well done to President Zuma.

Good. Next challenge: end patriarchal attitudes to sex and women's bodies.

Think this is a good move from the ANC. Well done this time.

We all know something has to be done - it is such a pity Mbeki did not roll out the AV program whilst in government. Never the less, my heart lies with the children - they really do not deserve the horrors AIDS bring about. If Zuma is honest (let us give him the benefit of the doubt), then let’s leave the prejudices behind - if Rwanda could make such a substantial difference - so much the easier for us.

Finally, some real leadership on AIDS. AIDS awareness will save thousands of lives. Thank you Mr President!

Anything, small. medium or big, to fight and control AIDS is needed and welcome. Great announcement that I hope will turn out good results.

Finally, some harmony in this blog. And finally, JZ admits the mistakes of the ANC (previous regimes) on Aids policies. The ANC swallowed its pride and made the right move.

Now implement the policy with the correct skilled and uncorrupt people. Viva Msholozi, let those with shower minds eat dust.

Understand one very important FACT: HIV does not mean you will get AIDS; but, if you live in poverty stricken, unhygienic environments the possibility of your HIV positive status becoming full blown AIDS is increased exponentially. The solution to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa is not providing anti-retroviral drugs to the masses of HIV sufferers. All this does is ensure that the patients will be life-long victims of a manipulative, life-degrading pharmaceutical industry. ANti-retroviral drugs are a form of chemotherapy. FACT: AZT was invented as chemo, but was not prescribed because of how dangerous a drug it really is. But who cares right, give it to the poor Africans, their governments will buy it and provide it to the millions of people who have been 'diagnosed' with AIDS. The rest of their lives will be at the mercy of Anti-retroviral drug treatments.

SOLUTION: End poverty, provide basic service delivery and educate the masses. Treat the root of the problem, not the symptom.

This HIV/AIDS arguement irritates me. Can you die from AIDS without HIV ? If the answer 99.9% of the time is no, then by pure logic HIV does cause AIDS.

@pasta

Well, if logic, or rational thought, were taken into account when considering all facets of policy making, which I agree, it should, then when the ANC promised to alleviate poverty, improve education and healthcare, and address the HIV/AIDS epidemic, they should have dealt with the problem 10 years ago. This hasn't happened.

AIDS, is the condition whereby the immune system is unable to fight the most basic of illness, namely fever and infection of various degree's. Do yourself a favour, read up about antiretrovirals, they destroy all cell replication, both the HIV virus and the CD4 cells. Basically it kills both good and bad cells.

Why does anyone get sick? Because they pick up germs that require a form of defense from an immune system. Poverty in Africa, specifically South Africa, is the cause of the problem. Spend the $ 120 Million on alleviating poverty, not making more scandalous deals with pharmaceutical companies that are simply degenerating the lives of millions of patients without addressing the fundamental problem at hand.

@apocalypse, the US is paying for this program and not SA, so this is not J. Zuma's program. I hope the US send people over to monitor this program so most of the money wont be stolen. I thought Malema could not stand western countries so is he going to send this money back to the US?

@Brent Rumble. Are you a doctor? Where did you get your "facts" about AIDS - the innernets? You sound like you are from the T Mbeki Medical Faculty: "Poverty causes AIDS"... Do you know how many people have died because of this bullsh*t? Rich people also die of AIDS. Explain that. HIV causes AIDS. A person's diet and living conditions may accelerate the disease and it's effects. HIV is the struck match. Poverty is the petrol thrown onto the fire. The petrol didn't cause the fire - it was the match!

yes yes but consider - isn't this just a rather over stated effort to distract the country from all the other really messed up stuff going on?

health care will now needed to implement what our presidence, mr Jacob Zuma, said.

If this is true that the USA is paying for the treatment, will the ANC acknowledge this? I doubt this looking at the past record of abusive words thrown at the West. Where are their buddies Chevez and Gadafi and why are they not helping. The old story of bite the hand that feeds you

Marius de Kock. The mainstream media do not give us the truth about HIV/AIDS because they are in the hands of the pharmaceutical industries. There is literally thousands of scientists and doctors, including Nobel Laureates in Chemistry and Medicine, that have signed a petition of the Group for the Scientific Reappraisal of the HIV/AIDS hypothesis. We do not see any of this in the media do we? You can start by checking out www.virusmyth.com

The Republic is under huge pressure of reason and populism.
The understanding is clear, who are the benefiaries on the
use of ARV's definately not the poor but business. Where
will these funds come from? The approach on president
Zuma's speech (no more denailism etc.) suggests that the
current administration's coming up with nothing new than to
capitalise on their predeccessors.

Coming back to ARV's, HIV&Aids issue..if a cure would be
found who would suffer the most? Pharmaceutical's, NGO's
like the Mandela foundations, manufacturers, logistics,
suppliers etc. this is a huge business/industry. Our
government is very ignorant and refuses to educate people
rightfully on taking responsibility of their lives, in
living a healthy lifestyle. Treatment/medication that is
taken on an empty starmach has an opposite effect and can
result to death.

Now to suggest that treatment is better than prevention is
taking this country into abbiss, it's like suggesting a
'shower', who is more irresponsible of the two. Yes,
comrades we do not suggest those who are already infected
must not be threated no, but there must be a sense of
responsibilty on the path of citizens. Address the issue of
poverty, food, unemployment,education etc. those are real
issues that will align this whole fiasco.

This will put the economy under huge stress, as it's
imposssible to cater for all this. This 'messiah/redeemer'
simple means opportunism at the expense of reality. Unless
we tackle the realities of this country we're heading for
disaster. LACK OF REASONING AT THE EXPENSE OF REALITY!!

Countries like Ghana are winning on prevention, abstanance
etc. yes, infected citizens must be threated but don't put
the horse before the cart. The same money/funds can improve
the lives of the poor to fight this demon, but improving
their lives.

While everyone talks the popular educated talk, such kleva folk in our new SA,..
We all know the ANC has been trying to protect it's political future by denying aids and making ARV's unavailable to the masses,.

Why!? these 5,7mill orphaned kids will vote them out in 2020,..
add 2 and 2 up folks,.. Maths is easy,.. [maybe not so easy when you have to be socially correct in the rainbw nation huh!?]

These politicians pay lip service to all this,.. "Govt steps up fight against Aids"

A further clue/scenario!?,. why Kwa-Zulu the highest incedence of Aids??
Possibly tribalism playing out!?,.
Duh,.. multiplication can be rather difficult as well if you have to talk rainbow nation style!?

Shame the masses really do just banter about don't they,. Clap trap of a naive democracy,...

Facts is Facts folks,.. This is all lip service to some very deep and well hidden agendas,..

Candy Rover, I tried to go onto the site you suggested, but could not "this page cannot be displayed" ??????- does it realy exist?

The sad part of our President's announcement is the expectations

The sad part of our President's announcement,is the expectations it has raised in the ranks of sufferers and their families.

How long will it take before these good people are back in the abyss of despair they have suffered in for most of their illness?The reality is that our public health system has collapsed in the rural areas(and in cities-I can only speak of Port Elizabeth's understaffed state hospitals)and WHO is going to be responsible for the consulting,dispensing and monitoring involved in the management of this pandemic?

WHO,in our Dept.of Health,is going to walk our President's talk and deliver on his promise of health care for HIV/AIDS sufferers?

@ Marius:

I am not a doctor, I am simply a concerned citizen. Your 'fire-match' analogy must have felt very clever, the primary problem however is that Poverty does in fact cause HIV. And the second problem is that matches are man-made combustibles, much like corruption, genocide, war, or in some cases stupidity. If people actually took the time to research the HIV syndrome as opposed to simply listening to mainstream media, big brother to pharmaceutical companies, they would realize exactly how much of a nightmare the HIV/AIDS-treatment methodology is.

know one thing, we need to acknowledge HIV and AIDS as a major humanitarian epidemic in our country. We also need to provide treatment and medical care for sufferers. Providing antiretroviral drugs is not the solution to the problem. Once you begin taking the drugs your quality of life will degenerate progressively until you die. The treatment will become the short term solution for the ANC and Poverty will continue to become a non-entity on the ANC's agenda as it has been since 1994.

Call me what you want now. In time our irresponsibility as a civil society will be our own demise, unless people start working for a unified cause - the betterment of every South African's way of life.

If you have a malignant mole on your arm, are you going to request Chemotherapy? There are always options.