SANAC tightens its operations

Pretoria - The South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) is in the process of bolstering its provincial and local structures so as to boost its efficiency.

"That process in underway with the view of a more accountable, transparent, efficient and above all, more effective SANAC," SANAC Deputy Chair Mark Heywood said on Friday.

The move, Heywood said, was aimed at changing perceptions that the HIV advisory body was out of touch and unaccountable. 

Speaking to the media after the council's first meeting of the year, which was chaired by Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, Heywood touched on the progress they have made since they adopted the National Strategic Plan (NSP) for HIV, AIDS, STIs and TB (2012-2016). 

He said there have been a lot of activities at the provincial councils and government to make the plan operational. 

"The meeting has adopted a roadmap towards achieving the desired outcomes at the end of year one (of the plan). Year one will focus on the areas of programme implementation, resource mobilisation and ensuring that there is sufficient capacity to manage plan."

The objective of the NSP development process is to ensure that all people in South African have the opportunity to participate in the development of the plan that will guide South Africa's response to HIV, TB and STIs over the next five years. 

The plan focuses on the four key areas of addressing the structural and social barriers to the epidemic; prevention of new infections, treatment for all those in need and addressing the human rights barriers that drive the epidemic.

As it is, Heywood said the council was concerned about what it could do to better mobilise the country to prevent new HIV infections. To this end, the meeting looked at how to further strengthen the already existing programmes to reach young women and men, and how SANAC could work with the schools health programmes to include issues around HIV and HIV testing, he said. 

The meeting also looked at the legal framework that protects human rights in support of the NSP and how they, together with the Justice and Constitutional Development cluster, can reduce the stigma and discrimination related to HIV and TB.

Also speaking at the briefing was Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi, who announced that as part of commemorating World TB day on 24 March, they will launch a campaign to test and treat hundreds of miners for TB.

The campaign, which will be at Goldfields' KDC West Mines in Carletonville, will be launched by Motlanthe and Motsoaledi and other industry expects. It is part of the wider NSP response to addressing the impact of TB and HIV.

Asked why they chose a mine for the launch, Motsoaledi said TB infection was aggravated amongst miners by the migratory nature of their employment. This, he said, contributed to the spread of the disease among miners, their families and communities. 

The commemoration of the World TB day will start on 23 March with a walk by the minister and TV personality and ambassador for the TB campaign, Gerry Elsdon, in Auckland Park. - BuaNews