Zuma’s Call to Action

“Our message is simple. We have to stop the spread of HIV. We must reduce the rate of new infections. Prevention is our most powerful weapon against the epidemic.”

In his address on World AIDS Day in Pretoria, President Jacob Zuma drew a striking parallel between the struggle against apartheid and the battle to overcome AIDS, while also announcing a major new voluntary testing campaign.

“At another moment in our history, in another context, the liberation movement observed that the time comes in the life of any nation when there remain only two choices: submit or fight. That time has now come in our struggle to overcome AIDS. Let us declare now, as we declared then, that we shall not submit.”

The President used his AIDS Day speech to announce a new campaign that would seek to mobilize all South Africans to get tested for HIV. While he did not undergo an HIV test as many expected, Zuma did assure his audience that he had taken HIV tests and was aware of his status. He committed himself to complete another HIV test soon as part of the new voluntary testing campaign and urged South Africans to start planning for their own tests.

Other measures announced in his speech include:

• All children under one year of age will get treatment if they test positive. Initiating treatment will therefore not be determined by the level of CD cells.
• All patients with both TB and HIV will get treatment with anti-retrovirals if their CD4 count is 350 or less. At present treatment is available when the CD4 count is less than 200.
• All pregnant HIV positive women with a CD4 count of 350 or with symptoms regardless of CD4 count will have access to treatment. At present HIV positive pregnant women are eligible for treatment if their CD4 count is less than 200.

• All other pregnant women not falling into this category, but who are HIV positive, will be put on treatment at fourteen weeks of pregnancy to protect the baby. In the past this was only started during the last term of pregnancy.
• In order to meet the need for testing and treatment, the government will work to ensure that all the health institutions in the country are ready to receive and assist patients.

Zuma called for a new era of openness, of taking responsibility, and of working together in unity to prevent HIV infections and to deal with its impact. He further argued that South Africa has no choice but to deploy every effort, mobilise every resource, and utilise every skill that the nation possesses, to ensure that South Africans prevail in the struggle for the health and prosperity of our nation. “We have to overcome HIV the same way that it spreads - one individual at a time.”