The national government has pledged to join the World Health Organisation’s efforts to eliminate Aids in children by 2030.
Deputy-president Paul Mashatile announced South Africa’s intent to meet that goal when addressing the Mandeni community on World Aids Day last week.
Alongside health minister Joe Phaahla and KwaZulu-Natal premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube, Mashatile visited a nearby clinic before engaging with the public.
“Children living with HIV aged 15 years and below are left behind in the global HIV response when compared to the general population,” said Mashatile.
“Unfortunately, South Africa has the largest population of children living with HIV in the world, and as of June 2023, our treatment coverage for children is alarmingly low, coming in at 67%.”
While children under 15 only account for 4% of total cases, they make up 15% of deaths given lagging treatment options and stigmas around the disease, he said.
Mashatile committed to strengthening testing in pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, while scaling efforts in Aids detection countrywide.
Anti-retroviral treatments are widely available for free and afford Aids-affected people a healthy and long life if properly managed.
Aside from the focus on Aids in children, Mashatile said the government was confident in meeting its 95-95-95 target by 2025.
That means 95% of people are aware of their status, 95% of affected people are on anti-retroviral treatment and 95% of those on treatment are virally suppressed.
The government missed its initial 90-90-90 target for 2020.
An estimated 7.8-million people are living with Aids in South Africa, a decrease from 14% in 2017 to 12.7% when research was done last year.
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