Pretoria - Fifty one new health facilities have been accredited to offer anti-retrovirals (ARVs) in the North West as part of measures for preventing and treating HIV.
This number is in addition to 29 existing sites, as the province also increased the number of people on ARVs.
Provincial Department of Health spokesperson, Tebogo Lekgethwane, said 29 community based organizations and 90 clinics have been accredited as part of the down referral programme.
"Accredited sites refer stable patients to community based organizations and clinics where quality Comprehensive HIV/Aids Care, Management and Treatment can be continued, thereby ensuring monitoring of drug adherence and tracing of patients who default treatment.
"This strategy is consistent with the World Health Organisation's recommendation that health care systems urgently shift from acute, hospital-based care to community based and patient centered chronic care," said Lekgethwane.
More than one million people have tested for HIV in the North West as part of government's drive to combat the pandemic.
Lekgethwane said on Monday that during the launch of the national HIV, Counselling and Testing (HCT) campaign in April last year, the province had targeted to test 998 859 people and have managed to increase the number of people on ARVs from 83 770 in April to 12 2379.
President Jacob Zuma launched the campaign as part of government's new and up-scaled HIV and Aids prevention and treatment plan.
The objectives of the new scaled up plan is to reduce the rate of infection by 50 percent by 2011 and to provide ARV treatment to 80 percent of those who need treatment.
Other objectives of the new plan include more emphasis on prevention through information, education, widespread distribution of condoms and mobilisation of millions of South Africans to know their status.
