| State calls on business to help tackle HIV |
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| November 06, 2008 | |
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Deputy President Baleka Mbete said the government and the private sector needed to move swiftly to ensure that the National Strategic Plan to reduce the number of new HIV infections by half in 2011 was achieved.
Mbete was speaking at the second SABCOHA Private Sector Conference on HIV and AIDS under the title, ''What do we need to do differently?''. The conference took place on 5 and 6 November at Emperors Palace, in Ekurhuleni, on Gauteng's East Rand. The strategic plan aims to increase access to treatment, care and support for an estimated 80 percent of those living with the disease, as well as to their families, by 2011. Mbete, who is also the chairperson of the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC), said the country could only meet the targets if the government, business, civil society and other stakeholders worked together in its implementation. Business could play an important role by mobilising much-needed resources. When it came to changes being made in combating HIV and AIDS, the senior attorney at the Aids Law Project, Fatima Hassan, said she was optimistic following the appointment of the new health minister, Barbara Hogan. Cosatu president, Sidumo Dlamini, also believed new appointments in the government could contribute to the constructive changes needed to challenge HIV/AIDS. However, Mbete said they were not changing policies that were already in place. The concentration was more on implementing those policies. On the second and final day of the conference, business leaders debated further measures to prevent and treat the pandemic. They said they realised the need to join forces against HIV /AIDS since statistics given at the conference showed that 67 percent of people living with the disease were in Africa, and this reduced gross domestic product by up to 1, 5 percent. - SABC Click here to read the full speech: Related articles |