South Africa introduced lenacapavir, a long-acting preventative treatment, expected to advance HIV prevention.
Speaking at a commemoration event at Ga-Masemola Stadium in the Sekhukhune District of Limpopo, Paul Mashitile, the Deputy President, who is also the Chairperson of the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC), said Lenacapavir is a revolutionary long-acting injectable drug.
It offers six months of protection and requires two injections per year.
Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, Minister of Health, said the plan is to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030- aiming for 95% of all people living with HIV to know their status; 95% of those who know their status to be on sustained antiretroviral treatment; and 95% of those on treatment to be virally suppressed.
UNAIDS took the platform presented by World AIDS Day on the 01st of December, to address abrupt reductions in international HIV assistance in 2025.
Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS, said this has deepened existing funding shortfalls.
The OECD estimates that external health assistance is projected to drop by between 30–40% in 2025, compared to 2023, causing immediate and even more severe disruption to health services in low- and middle-income countries.
“The funding crisis has exposed the fragility of the progress we fought so hard to achieve. Behind every data point in this report are people—babies and children missed for HIV screening or early HIV diagnosis, young women cut off from prevention support, and communities suddenly left without services and care. We cannot abandon them. We must overcome this disruption and transform the AIDS response” said Byanyima.
Picture: WHO