23-05-2025
Mpumalanga health department on a mission to trace over 100 000 HIV-positive citizens
As a way of tracing more than 134 000 people in the province who have tested positive for HIV but are not on treatment, a Close the Gap campaign was launched on Friday, May 16. The campaign was launched at Rob Ferreira Hospital by the Mpumalanga Department of Health (DoH), in collaboration with the Mpumalanga Aids Council and other stakeholders in the health sector.
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This national campaign to locate the 1.1 million South African citizens who have tested positive for HIV, but are not on treatment, was launched in February by the minister of health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi.
The campaign also seeks to wage a war against TB, to ensure that the disease is eradicated. According to the department, the province is faced with the task of locating more than 134 000 people and putting them on antiretroviral treatment, while 9 380 must receive TB treatment, to ensure they live longer and lead healthy lifestyles.
'The health department is banking on our healthcare facilities and the support and co-operation of other stakeholders to realise our objective, thus successfully contributing to the national target of 1.1 million,' read a press release.
The Ehlanzeni District has been identified as the region with the highest numbers of HIV-positive people who are not on treatment.
The MEC for health, Sasekani Manzini, said the department has in the past months been able to trace 13 000 patients and the aim is to trace the remaining 121 000 by December. These include people who have taken their medication before and then defaulted, and the people who have never been on treatment before.
Manzini said they are concerned that many HIV-positive men have never been on medication, and that most children who were born positive are not receiving medication. This is according to research they have conducted.
'The men do not test and say as long as their partners have tested it means they do not have to go to the clinic to test. Children are under the care of their parents and they need to make sure their children are receiving the necessary treatment.'
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Manzini said they are going to do what they did during the Covid-19 pandemic. They will use the same procedure so that they can identify the people they are looking for.
'We are going back to the clinic base campaign. Each clinic has a certain number of persons who are not receiving treatment and who need to be traced. We have traditional practitioners, leaders, councillors and business people who we will work together with to make sure that everyone who needs to take treatment is doing so.'
Sfiso Nkala of People Living With HIV said some people decide to stop taking their medication due to the poor treatment they receive from healthcare workers at health facilities.
Trudy Khumalo of the youth sector in Mpumalanga, said the counsellors need to change the way they render their services at healthcare facilities. 'Instead of giving assistance and providing therapy to patients, they ask unnecessary questions which make the patients uncomfortable.'
Khumalo added that the long queues at healthcare facilities are also a problem. 'Young people do not like sitting and waiting for their treatment for many hours, so they decide not to go collect their medication,' she said.
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