Cape Town - Government has committed to allocating more resources towards its HIV and AIDS programme to accelerate its implementation.
Tabling his Budget Vote in Parliament on Tuesday, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said during the current financial year, the department will work with provinces to ensure that 80 percent of HIV exposed infants receive Anti-retroviral Treatment (ARVs) for Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT).
"This figure will increase to 95 percent over the two years of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) 2010/11 and 2011/12," the minister said.
The proportion of pregnant women tested for HIV will also be increased from 80 percent in 2009/10 to 95 percent in 2010/11 and 2011/12.
The minister said to strengthen the prevention of PMTCT of HIV, 80 percent of pregnant women who are eligible will be placed on ARV Prophylaxis based on dual therapy in 2009/10.
"This figure will increase to 95 percent in the outer two years of the MTEF period," he said.
Minister Motsoaledi also announced that 30 percent of eligible pregnant women will be placed on Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy (HAART) in 2009/10.
"This service will be expanded to cover 50 percent of pregnant women in 2010/11 and 75 percent in 2011/12," he said.
The department will further increase the distribution of male condoms from 283 million to 450 million in 2009/10, and 45 million condoms in the other years of the planning cycle.
The female condom distribution will also be increased from 4.5 million in 2009/10 to 5 million in 2010/11 and 2011/12.
"We will start 215 000 new patients on ARVs and grow the figure to 320 000 in 2011/12, this figure of patients will add to the 781 465 people already on treatment.
South Africa has one of the largest HIV and AIDS treatment programmes in the world.
According to the National HIV Prevalence, Incidence and Communication Survey, conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council in 2008, the HIV epidemic stabilised at 11 percent between 2002 and 2008.
The HIV prevalence at national level decreased by nearly half among children aged 2-14 years, HIV prevalence decreased slightly among youth aged 15-24 from 2005 to 2008.
The survey also showed a substantial decrease in new HIV infections in the age groups between 15 and 19 and more people are using condoms and know where to access them, half of the country now know their HIV status.
The report also revealed an increase in exposure to one or more HIV and AIDS communication programmes.
However, the survey showed that despite these successes, there is still some unevenness in infections as well as behaviour change.
HIV prevalence is still high in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga, it is also still high among young women aged 25-29 years, among all provinces, Free State continues to have high rates of multiple partnerships.
The minister said the department noted the recommendations made by the researchers, including the need to introduce targeted interventions in some provinces with high HIV prevalence.
"Furthermore, we support that we intensify our efforts to help provinces implement interventions aimed at reducing rates of multiple sexual partners including intergenerational sex," the minister said.
