Deputy President Paul Mashatile has announced that the government will provide HIV-positive patients with a six-month supply of antiretroviral (ARV) medication, a significant increase from the current two-to-three-month intervals.
This comes after the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) organisation submitted a memorandum to Mashatile during a picket in the Eastern Cape, where he was delivering a keynote address at the World Aids Day commemoration on Sunday.
“The national department of health must urgently finalise the planning and forecasting process to ensure that all eligible people get a six-month supply of ARVs if they want it, and implementation plan with timelines must be made public by December 15.
“Rollout must start before the end of 2024. At least 30% of people living with HIV must be receiving a six-month supply by the end of June 2025,” the memorandum read.
Mashatile acknowledged the demands of the TAC.
“Your demands are not unreasonable. This means the government will do it. What you are asking for, the government will do,” he said.
Government will provide six-month supply of ARVs to HIV patients: Mashatile
Image: TAC/ X
Deputy President Paul Mashatile has announced that the government will provide HIV-positive patients with a six-month supply of antiretroviral (ARV) medication, a significant increase from the current two-to-three-month intervals.
This comes after the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) organisation submitted a memorandum to Mashatile during a picket in the Eastern Cape, where he was delivering a keynote address at the World Aids Day commemoration on Sunday.
“The national department of health must urgently finalise the planning and forecasting process to ensure that all eligible people get a six-month supply of ARVs if they want it, and implementation plan with timelines must be made public by December 15.
“Rollout must start before the end of 2024. At least 30% of people living with HIV must be receiving a six-month supply by the end of June 2025,” the memorandum read.
Mashatile acknowledged the demands of the TAC.
“Your demands are not unreasonable. This means the government will do it. What you are asking for, the government will do,” he said.
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“When people get the six-month supply of ARVs, it makes it easier for us to deal with the 95-95-95 issue. We will also implement this for the entire South Africa, not just in the Eastern Cape [province], because this is something we must do.
Health minister Aaron Motsoaledi shared the same sentiments, indicating the need to achieve the 95-95-95 target in which 95% of people living with HIV know their status, 95% of people who know their status receive HIV treatment, and 95% of people on treatment have suppressed viral loads.
“The demands are reasonable, they make sense and it's for the advantage of the whole country, not [just] a few individuals. We will definitely look into it so that we can put aside anything that's an obstacle for us reaching our 95-95-95 goal. It's not something we can argue against; we will sit down and look into it,” said Motsoaledi.
“As we commemorate World Aids Day, we are intending to win this war. By 2030 we should be able to say we have won it,” added Mashatile.
TimesLIVE
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