A Provincial World AIDS Day event was held on 5th of December organised by the Eastern Cape AIDS Council, which took place at the Nomathamsanga Township Sports Ground in Addo (Sundays’ River Valley Municipality in Nelson Mandela Bay District). The theme of the event was ‘Working Together With Communities We Can Achieve the 90-90-90 targets.” The event was very well attended with over 1000 people from the surrounding communities.
The Health MEC (Member of Executive Council) Ms Sindiswa Gomba, gave a key-note address, indicating that in order to reach the 90-90-90 targets and tackle HIV, a multisectoral approach is needed. She called for all government departments and other stakeholders including the community and NGOs to play a part. HIV is a development issue affecting our whole communities. The MEC and the Deputy Chair of the EC AIDS Council urged all people living with HIV (PLWH) to continue to take their anti-retroviral treatment and not default treatment. This is becoming a rising challenge within South Africa.
A patient also gave a short speech, calling for PLWH in the community to reduce new infections by complying to their prescribed drug regimens. A professional nurse committed to continue to ensure that her clinic would strive towards youth friendly services.