Stop for AIDS 1/12/08

Join the stop and think about AIDS Campaign on World AIDS Day.

'Stop and Think about AIDS for a Minute'

November 26, 2008

The quality of healthcare in the private sector is also needed in the public sector, according to Health Minister Barbara Hogan.
"I also wish to acknowledge those working in the public sector.

"We hear you, and the conditions you are working under," she said at the Zuzimpilo Medical Centre for HIV and Aids and related diseases in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, on Tuesday.

A new facility was opened in the centre, which is funded by the US President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar).

"Zuzimpilo is an extraordinary initiative. We require full force from all frontiers."

She said South Africa rolled out more antiretrovirals (ARVs) than any other country in the world.

"We have had some teething problems in the Free State when the distribution of ARVs was shut down recently.
"Officials were immediately sent to the province to ensure that processes were able to continue."

On the recent cholera outbreak, Hogan said the health department was doing everything it could to prevent the spread of the disease. It was setting up more re-hydration centres at the Beitbridge border near Musina.

"We are also engaging with health organisations in Zimbabwe, and the World Health Organisation.
"But the problem is mainly in Zimbabwe."

Before being clad in traditional garb by staff members at the clinic, Hogan called on South Africans to stop for 15 minutes on World Aids Day on Monday.

"Think about personally committing yourself to fighting Aids, and honour those who have passed on due to the disease.

"We must not forget, and we must renew our commitment," she said. - Sapa

· This article was originally published in The Star on Wednesday 26 November 2008.

Call for SA to Observe AIDS Day

01/12/2008 10:43 - (SA)

News 24

Johannesburg - South Africa's government is asking the nation to halt work for 15 minutes on Monday for a period of silence to observe World Aids Day and to consider ways of reining in the pandemic.

Deputy President Baleka Mbete is leading the campaign, set to begin at noon, meant to encourage South Africans to think and talk about HIV/Aids, which has infected 5.5 million people in the country.

Shortly before the moment of silence begins, Health Minister Barbara Hogan is set to address the nation shortly before, with UNAids executive director Peter Piot at an event in the port city of Durban.

South Africa was long criticised for its Aids policy, as former president Thabo Mbeki for years questioned whether Aids was brought on by HIV.

At the same time, his health minister and loyalist Manto Tshabala-Msimang was dubbed "Dr Beetroot" for proposing lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and beetroot over anti-retrovirals as treatments.

The government's tone has changed dramatically since Mbeki was ousted by the African National Party in September. Hogan's appointment has been praised by activists as she has sought to turn around the country's policies.

- AFP

Workers Must Know Their Status - Union Chiefs. 1/12/2008

December 1, 2008

IOL HIV-AIDS

Johannesburg - The South African Transport and Allied Workers' Union on Monday called on its members to go for HIV and Aids testing as people throughout the country marked World Aids Day with 15-minute work stoppages.

"The results, whilst confidential, will help all of us to take the necessary steps to contribute to the fight and, more importantly to make decisive interventions to ensure those of us infected and affected can still enjoy quality of life," Satawu general secretary Randall Howard said in a statement.

Howard said he had been counselled and tested last week in an attempt to provide "concrete leadership".

He was prepared to make his results known publicly so that members could take courage and "perhaps consider challenging themselves directly" he said. There was still "a huge challenge in talking about the HIV/Aids, let alone being able to acknowledge that we are infected or affected".

Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) president Sdumo Dlamini would carry out a public HIV and Aids test with Anglo Coal senior management in Witbank, the company said in a statement.

"Important gains have been made in the fight against the HIV pandemic, but it still remains one of the greatest threats to health in human history," said Anglo American chairperson and chair of the Global Business Coalition on HIV and Aids, Sir Mark Moody-Stuart.

"It has taken a major toll on lives in Africa, but it poses a growing threat in other countries. We are committed not only to addressing the epidemic amongst our workforce, but also increasingly amongst dependants and affected communities," he said.

The ANC Youth League urged all South Africans, particularly the youth, to avoid risky sexual behaviour by abstaining, being faithful and using condoms.

It called for increased condom distribution, particularly in townships, informal settlements and rural areas; increased treatment and care of the infected; and better regulation of the trade and consumption of alcohol.

"Young children continue to have access to alcohol, without effective enforcement of alcohol regulation laws," spokesperson Floyd Shivambu said in a statement.

The UDM called on the government to print a simple and concise HIV and Aids information sheet for distribution to households, schools, workplaces and churches.

In a statement, UDM president Bantu Holomisa said this would ensure "we lay to rest all the myths and stop the contradictory messages that have been festering for years due to incompetent political management".

The UDM believed it long overdue for South Africans to consider the response models which had worked in countries such as Uganda and Brazil.

"The success stories of other nations in the fight against this pandemic amply demonstrate that co-ordinated society-wide participation in the campaign is the difference between life and death."

Increased public awareness campaigns, advertising and community meetings on HIV and Aids were also needed, he added.

ACDP health and education spokesperson Cheryllyn Dudley appealed to Health Minister Barbara Hogan to use HIV and Aids funds to boost interventions where the fight had been most successful, particularly campaigns focusing on abstinence before marriage and faithfulness in marriage.

The Federation of Unions of South Africa said if South Africans were to curb the further spread of the virus, they should observe the call of the South African National Aids Council to be ready, not only as a country, but as a community and as a workforce.

"Fedusa believes that as we observe both World Aids Day and the 16 Days against gender violence, the time has come for the world to sit up and take note of the essential links between violence and HIV and Aids," said general secretary Dennis George.

It was their fear of this violence which prevented many women from accessing HIV information, from getting tested and seeking treatment.

"If we want to get ahead of the epidemic we must put women at the heart of the Aids response," he said. – Sapa

Stop Work and Talk about AIDS - Union

November 27, 2008

IOL HIV-AIDS
Johannesburg - The Congress of South African Trade Unions has called for a nationwide 30-minute work stoppage, to talk about HIV on World Aids Day next Monday.

Speaking on Thursday, after the union body's Central Executive Committee meeting, it said the stoppage should focus on prevention, distribution of pamphlets, training of shop stewards to be counsellors, and the distribution of condoms and femidoms.

The stoppage would begin with a minute's silence, to remember people who had died of the disease.
The union said that at least 70 percent of the case load in the public health system was taken up by HIV and Aids cases, crowding out capacity to treat other conditions.

"The public health system facing this Aids tsunami is dysfunctional," it said.

The work stoppage has been supported by the Treatment Action Campaign, Lovelife, The South African National Aids Council, businesses and civil society. – Sapa