Region E health tackles the country's HIV treatment gap
This has necessitated the launch of numerous initiatives in the region, including Indoda Wednesday Dialogue (IWD), and recently, the health outreach campaign at Kwabhekilanga Sports Ground in Alexandra on June 20.
This forms part of the region's attempt to ensure that vital services such as HIV testing and counselling, TB screening, family planning, and health education are brought to the Alexandra community. The IWD, hosted by FAN Champions For Change manager Charles Mphephu, and the health outreach campaign are slightly different in terms of who they are targeting, but they share a similar goal of tackling the scourge of HIV in Region E and preventing its spread.
Read more: Efforts to mobilise men against GBV and spread of HIV continue
IWD has reached men across the Alexandra community who are least likely to talk about GBV, and HIV treatment openly, and the health campaign aimed to reach both men, women and children who are least likely to set foot in a clinic.
'We expected more youth, but even though we did not see more of them, they did show up. And, we just wanted the community around the area to come, especially children, because we know they are no longer going to school,' a multisectoral coordinator in Region E, Lerato Malemela shared.
Malemela, who is also the co-organiser of the health outreach, emphasised its significance, noting that it was a regional contribution to the country's Close The Gap campaign, which seeks to shrink the HIV treatment gap by bringing 1.1 million people into treatment.
At the launch of the HIV treatment Gap campaign in Soweto on February 25, health minister Aaron Motsoaledi revealed that men were behind in taking HIV/Aids treatment, and that the 1.1 million gap was mostly composed of men.
Since then, IWD has reached men across Alexandra, and has served as a platform to encourage them to take measures to prevent HIV spread. One of the IWD participants, Stepping Tennis Foundation member, and co-organiser of the outreach campaign, Sibusiso Shongwe, said,
'So, what we have seen at the FAN men's forum is that men are afraid to go to the health facilities. They are scared of queuing at the clinics. But here, there are no queues; they just walk in, receive services, and leave. That is why we decided that we should bring the clinic to them.'
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