Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

The South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) has established a sub-committee to discuss pre-recruitment testing for HIV and AIDS within the country's defence force.

The resolution was taken at yesterday's meeting in Pretoria, chaired by Deputy President Jacob Zuma.

According to Deputy President Zuma, the sub-committee was also mandated to look into related issues.

"The Council established a sub-committee to discuss the issue further and report back to SANAC," he said.

The move to institute the sub-committee follows a concern raised last year that the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) discriminated against members living with HIV and AIDS by terminating their service.

However, Cabinet has said there is no government policy to exclude individuals from the force merely because they were HIV positive.

It said the mandate of the SANDF and the rigour of military training would require the assessment of recruits on the basis of various criteria.

These included height, weight, the state of vision and hearing, and whether one had been infected with ailments such as hepatitis and HIV.

SANAC also deliberated on the challenges of balancing human rights issues with military demands on individuals, Mr Zuma explained.

The members of the group comprise representatives from labour, people living with HIV and AIDS, departments of health and defence, the sports sector, and the legal and human rights sector.

Furthermore, SANAC called on all sectors to engage more with government on its Comprehensive HIV and AIDS Care and Treatment Plan and work out ways of providing practical support regarding implementation.

Approved by Cabinet last November, the plan is to provide antiretrovirals to people infected with AIDS in the country and whose CD4 cell count hovered around 200.

"The Council acknowledged the challenges facing the country regarding the implementation," said Deputy President Zuma.

The National Department of Health has thus pledged to provide support to provinces to ensure equitable access to antiretrovirals in the public health sector across the country.

Nonetheless, the Western Cape government has already started rolling out the drugs in its public health institutions.

Gauteng outlined its implementation programme this week, with plans to start providing antiretrovirals to people living with AIDS in the province from next month.

North West is outlining its programme today whereas the Free State is gearing itself for rollout in May.

In terms of the national treatment plan, government hopes to establish at least one service point in every health district across the country, and within five years one service point in every local municipality.

A service point includes a network of facilities providing various elements of the comprehensive care.