City of Tshwane hosts Gauteng AIDS Council Roadshow

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the Gauteng AIDS Council (GAC) Tshwane Roadshow whose aim was to discuss plans to strengthen and capacitate the City of Tshwane to improve its multisectoral response to HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

During the roadshow, the Tshwane HIV/AIDS response team provided an overview of the City’s implementation of the HIV, TB and STIs multisectoral response inclusive of its community-driven approach that includes door-to-door education campaigns. The City, as part of our response, also facilitates access to services, clinics, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other government departments.

The City’s focus on this issue remains crucial as Tshwane is among the top five districts with a high burden of HIV in South Africa. The district has an HIV prevalence of 13,1% among people aged between 15 and 49 years in Gauteng. It was found that some of the key drivers of new HIV infections include the following:

• Early sexual activity among the youth
• Gender-based violence (GBV)
• Incorrect, inconsistent and low condom use
• Multiple concurrent sexual partners
• High viral load due to poor adherence to treatment

As the MMC for Health, I want to give assurances that the City of Tshwane remains committed to implementing the National Strategic Plan (NSP) and Provincial Implementation Plan (PIP) in full. These plans play and important role in guiding the response to HIV, TB and STIs across the different spheres of government.

The City of Tshwane is making steady progress towards re-establishing an active Tshwane Metro AIDS Council (TMAC). This will contribute to the promotion of leadership and shared accountability for sustainable responses to HIV, TB and STIs by the government, labour, civil society, the private sector and development partners.