Aids: prevention beats treatment

With so much drama happening around us every day, it is easy to forget that there are still threats to our health out there. And both Covid and Aids are far from being eliminated from society.

The pandemic took the focus away from Aids, which is still a major health issue right across the world, but especially worrying in Africa and the developing world.

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On International Aids Day yesterday, it was heartening to see that the once awful stigma attached to Aids has been dissipating, as modern drugs and treatments have improved the odds of survival dramatically. The disease no longer has to be a death sentence.

The campaign to combat Aids in South Africa has been one thing the ANC government has got right, although let us not forget that it was former president Thabo Mbeki whose fascination with Aids denialists and their conspiracy theories which delayed the rollout of anti-retroviral (ARV) medication and cost hundreds of thousands of lives.

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Yet, although we may now be settling down to live with the disease, we should not forget that prevention is still far better than treatment (because there is no cure).

Practising safe sex and reducing risky behaviour need to be our watchwords going forward.