The International Aids Conference starts today, Mandela Day. And no one is working harder for it than the government. That's a very good thing. Aids denialism is dead! Long live a united campaign to end HIV, TB and the social inequalities that drive them. But unity needs truth-telling and our truth-telling about where we were, and where we are with Aids, often seems in short supply. There's a new denialism in the air and unless we nip it in the bud we are in trouble.At the weekend there was a statement that Deputy President Cyril Ramphosa would speak at the opening plenary meeting of the conference. It did not mention that he would share the stage with civil society organisations such as the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC).Which seems to confirm that our government seems not to want the TAC to tell truths at the conference. This should worry us.Recently, blatant untruths were told to try to stop Nkhensani Mavasa, the TAC chairman, from speaking at the opening plenary meeting.An e-mail from conference co-chairman Olive Shisana to all the members of the conference co-ordinating committee a few weeks ago read: "I went . to an [SA National Aids Council] meeting chaired by the deputy president and this was followed by the inter-ministerial committee last week, and the chorus is the same: "Withdraw Khensani Mavasa from speaking at the opening".Is this not just a little bit Hlaudi-esque?Last week the deputy president, writing in the Daily Maverick, bends time and truth to fit a new narrative about Aids. In essence, it suggests that, in 2005, the government miraculously experienced an epiphany and its Aids denialism just melted away.In his words: "In 2005 South Africa embraced the problem with energy, rolling out a massive antiretroviral treatment programme through its public health system."Really?What really happened was this.In March 2003, the TAC launched a civil disobedience campaign to demand a national ARV treatment programme. The campaign was suspended when [then] Deputy President Jacob Zuma promised that an ARV treatment plan was in the offing.Then more delays and, in late 2003, TAC threatened to resume its civil disobedience campaign.This forced the government to announce its ARV plan but another delay followed and ARV treatment was not provided officially until April 2004.As a result, between 2004 and 2006, 1000 people a day continued to die.The conflict between the TAC and the government intensified again. It peaked at another international Aids conference, in Toronto, at which [then] Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang shamed us with her exhibition of garlic and lemons.Members of Thabo Mbeki's cabinet had had enough. A rebellion was sparked by Zola Skweyiya's report-back on the conference, in which he said he felt "ashamed".At this point, the government sued for peace with the TAC and after a process of real consultation South Africa's first rational and reasonable National Strategic Plan on HIV, TB and STIs was finalised in 2007.But this is not the time for self-congratulation or for burying ugly truths. What are the ugly truths?In 2015, 30% of all deaths in this country were due to Aids - 18 people an hour, 440 a day (Stats SA).Thirty percent of all those newly infected with HIV were girls and young women (SA National Aids Council Trust).The incidence of multi-drug-resistant TB has doubled in the past five years.Now for a few good truths:Mother-to-child HIV transmission has fallen to 1.5%.More than 17million people in this country had been tested for HIV by 2012 and more than 3million people were on ARV treatment by 2015.Bad truth: the number of adults sticking to their ARV treatment after five years is under half.Bad truth: the percentage of young people having sexual intercourse before the age of 15 is unchanged and the number having sex with more than one partner in the past year has risen by 80%. Condom distribution has risen; condom use has not.Bad truth: Although 3million voluntary medical male circumcisions have been performed in the past five years, that was not enough to contribute to a reduced incidence of HIV.Ugly truth: rates of HIV infection among female sex workers range from 39% to 71%.Ugly truth: South Africa still has no system to measure gender-based violence and no municipalities have reported HIV programmes even though they are essential.We would be on our way to ending this scourge in South Africa if, in the next two years, we were to:Fix our basic education system and focus on ensuring that girls and boys at school have access to condoms and HIV testing;Establish friendly clinics to provide ARVs, and medical circumcision for boys;Provide proper information about sex and sexuality.The TAC will fight until Aids is eradicated, hand-in-hand with our government. But truth, transparency and accountability are needed from all of us - the government and TAC.We are ready. Are you?This article is a shortened version of an article that first appeared in Spotlight, a print and online publication monitoring South Africa's response to TB and HIV and our health systems. Heywood is the executive director of Section 27 and co-founder of the Treatment Action Campaign..