More effort is needed to curb the spreading of HIV in Mpumalanga Province, according to health experts.
The Chief Albert Luthuli News spoke to health authorities and an experts about the statistics recently released by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) revealing that Mpumalanga has the highest HIV prevalence compared to other provinces.
HRSC study showed that the province recorded an HIV prevalence of 17.4% in 2022, meaning about 890,000 people were living with HIV.
Elphas Nkosi a senior member of the Mpumalanga Provincial Aids Council (MPAC) questioned the validity of the statistics but conceded that more effort was needed to quell the spreading of the various.
“ The statistics are grossly misinterpreted. There is a decline in HIV prevalence across the country. These figures must be compared with the 2017 HSRC results which demonstrate a decline in HIV infections and the increase in the number of people put on treatment which makes people live longer. There are several improvements when talking about Mpumalanga results.
HIV infection among females aged 15 – 24 is declining compared to 2017.”
“ However there are areas which need special attention especially the increasing number of boys and young men aged 15 – 24 are getting infected and the focus is on rural and farming communities,” said Nkosi.
When asked what exactly should be done to avert the spreading of the disease he did not respond and just viewed the WhatsApp texts.
Nkosi’s organisation known as the MPAC is an entity formed by the provincial government in 2009 to address issues relating to HIV, tuberculosis and sexually transmitted diseases. It operates within the Premier Office.
Previously when commenting on how the province could address the new HIV infection cases, MPAC chair Sonto Nkosi suggested that one of the strategies was to encourage those who had stopped taking treatment to come back and use it again.
Thandi Maluka, director of Positive Women Network said, “We are very much shocked and devastated by the numbers. We will ensure that we engage stakeholders and MEC of the department of health because we would like her and the department of social development to support organizations representing people living with HIV with resources to assist in a fight against the disease.”
Mpumalanga Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) provincial secretary Sifiso Nkala was concerned about the growing infection of young people and teenagers.
Nkala said the situation needed collaborative effort and called on the school governing body(SGB) representative to play a role in fighting the scourge in schools.
“The SGB representatives are expected to draft their individual HIV policy to fight the scourge in schools. We have noted that most schools are never fully capacitated in developing such HIV policies. TAC is prepared to work with the schools and we have already established relationships with certain schools. We must also popularize the use of pre-exposure prophylaxis to avert new infections.”
HRSC revealed that about two years ago the province’s virus prevalence among those whose ages ranged from 15 to 24 was at 7.8% and at the stage age groups males were mostly infected at 9.8% while females accounted for only 6.3%.
According to the statistics, the HIV prevalence among adults aged from 25 to 49 was 26.4% overall while female infection was 31.9% compared to male who were at 19.9%.
The report cited that the prevalence was at its highest at 40.8% within adults aged 45 to 49 years in 2022 compared to 39% in 2017 among those 35 to 39 years.
Those residing in rural areas and at the farms were more infected than their counterparts in the urban areas.
Mpumalanga department of health spokesperson Dumisani Malamule said the department of health in the province could not comment on the issue and said HIV issues in the province were handled by MPAC.
