Pretoria – Unitaid and South Africa’s National Department of Health have launched a partnership to accelerate the country’s efforts to prevent and treat HIV and tuberculosis. South Africa is home to the world’s biggest HIV/AIDS epidemic, as well as one of the highest TB burdens.
The joint endeavour will introduce HIV self-screening, expand access to prevention for adolescent girls and young women at high risk of HIV infection, and to TB preventive therapy for people living with HIV and children under the age of five. It will also support the development of better first-line HIV treatment, and efforts to find better and shorter treatment for multidrug-resistant TB.
“We are very excited to partner with the South African government to accelerate the introduction of health innovations to prevent, diagnose and treat HIV and TB,” Unitaid Executive Director Lelio Marmora said. “Through this partnership we hope to boost HIV testing, particularly among adolescent girls, young women, and men, and ensure they have access to treatment.”