World AIDS Day

The theme of this year’s World AIDS Day is: ZERO STIGMA, ZERO DISCRIMINATION. There are 34 million people living with HIV worldwide, and 6.4 million of those are South African; the highest number in the world. Consequently, the government has focussed a lot of attention on, and invested financially, in the treatment of HIV, and 10 years down the line, after the introduction of ARVs in public hospitals, the percentage of infected mothers giving birth to HIV positive babies has decreased form 28% to 2%; however, South Africa is still the country with the highest number of new infections. What can be done to decrease these statistics?

According to the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC), the solution to decreasing the number of new infections, is to de-stigmatise and create awareness around HIV/AIDS.

In its bid to create awareness, and break the myths surrounding HIV/AIDS, the Council paid tribute to World AIDS Day with an event, which included amongst others, a speaker from SANAC, Dr Connie Kganakga and the personal testimony of Ms Anna Raseko, a person living with HIV.

The message is clear, spread the word, to curb the spread of HIV!

Please visit www.sanac.org.za for videos of personal stories and experiences of people living with HIV.