City marks World Aids Day

Abstain, Be Faithful, Condomise – that was the City’s message in speeches, songs and marches, as mobile testing stations were organised and candles were lit for those affected by HIV/Aids.
ZERO discrimination, zero Aids-related deaths and zero new HIV infections can only become a reality if people took responsibility for their lives by abstaining or condomising and being faithful to one partner.

MMC Nonceba Molwele (Photo: Enoch Lehung, City of Johannesburg)MMC Nonceba Molwele addresses residents at Park Station (Photo: Enoch Lehung, City of Johannesburg)This was the message delivered by speakers on 1 December, World Aids Day commemorations in Joburg.

The activities started at Park Station, where mobile testing stations were set up. People were encouraged to know their status so that they would be empowered to fight against this pandemic.

It was also here at Park Station, where over 10 candles were lit by politicians, people living with HIV/Aids, and representatives from organisations caring for those who are infected and affected.

Fighting HIV/Aids
While the candle lighting ceremony was on, the City’s member of the mayoral committee for health and social development, Nonceba Molwele, who was overseeing the running of the programme, read some promises that the City was making towards fighting the virus.

The promises included not discriminating against those who are affected and infected, making sure that medication is available for all who needed it and providing care and support for those who are living with the virus.

“We want to assure our people, particularly those infected and affected by this disease, that yes, with correct treatment, it is possible to manage HIV-related diseases such as TB. In fact, the progress made in ARVs means that being diagnosed with HIV is no longer about dying. It is about living a healthy lifestyle, it is about life,” Molwele said.

Mobile testing stations (Photo: Ench Lehung, City of Johannesburg)A resident tests for HIV/Aids at a mobile testing station (Photo: Enoch Lehung, City of Johannesburg)She said that the City believes that prevention is better than cure because a healthy population is a productive population and a productive population will result in sustainable economic growth.

The City of Joburg has been keeping this promise because thus far, 50 percent of all its 81 clinics already provide antiretroviral treatment. The latest centre to be launched was at the Weilers Farm Clinic in Region G.

IJozi Ihlomile
IJozi Ihlomile is another organisation that helps the City stay true to its promises. This organisation is made up of volunteers who go from house to house educating people about the disease and removing the stigmas surrounding it.

The group also encourages those living with the virus to eat healthily, exercise regularly, condomise, abstain or be faithful to one partner.

Molwele’s words were restated by the Gauteng MEC for health and social development, Ntombi Megwe, when she said, “As government we commit ourselves to extend a helping hand to those who need care and support, to children in need of care and support, and to vulnerable women, people living with disabilities and the aged in our communities.”

From Park Station, a crowd of over 500 people wearing red T-shirts, armed with placards bearing messages of hope and encouragement, marched through the Joburg city centre to Newtown Park in Newtown.

Lighting candlesCandles are lit to remember those who have passed onSinging songs about being victorious over the disease, the marchers brought traffic to a standstill even as some motorists hooted in support of the march and others in sheer frustration of being delayed.

Some street vendors joined the march for a bit before retreating to their business stands. Condoms and information leaflets were handed out to bystanders.

Newtown Park
Once at Newtown Park, Dr Kgosi Letlape, president of the African Medical Association, was guest speaker for the day. His was a slightly different message.

He told those present that reaching an HIV-free generation was not the responsibility of the government, doctors, or even traditional healers but a responsibility for every individual. He explained that it started with men respecting their wives, people not misrepresenting their culture by having too many partners.

“As a society we need to play our part to make this [zero new infections] a reality, and that part is about the sexual choices we make,” Letlape explained. “We should use a condom and stick to one partner.”

He took this a step further when he encouraged men to respect women, take responsibility for where they have been and for the consequences of their sexual choices. He told fathers to take responsibility for the children they have fathered.

Letlape is also a former chairperson of the South African Medical Association and a past president of the World Medical Association (WMA), the global representative body for physicians.

He made history as the first black person to qualify as an ophthalmologist in South Africa during the apartheid years and was the first black person to be elected WMA president.