Aids Treatment for Every Western Cape Child in Need

Extract from Remarks by Western Cape Premier, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, addressing staff, patients and media at Grootte Schuur Hospital in Cape Town on 8 March 2004

The Western Cape Government, our provincial Health Department, and our local and international partners, have together reached a number of critical milestones in our fight against HIV/Aids over the past two years:

We have effectively rolled-out our Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission programme to 100% of pregnant mothers attending public health facilities in the province;

We have negotiated an agreement with the Global Fund to secure $66,5 million over 5 years to help us treat our people;

We have already opened 16 anti-retroviral (ARV) treatments sites this year, at which we are already treating more than 2000 HIV+ people, when the national treatment plan called for only 6 sites; and

Last week we formed another R30 million partnership with ARK from Europe to place at least another 1500 mothers on ARV treatment.

Each of these achievements has represented lives saved. Every goal met has been rewarded with a better chance at life for people in every Western Cape community. I have never been more proud though, to make the announcement that we do today: during the course of the new financial year, the Western Cape will be in a position to offer anti-retroviral treatment to every child in our province, under the age of 14, that needs it.

Minister Meyer and his Department undertook last year to have about 500 Western Cape children on treatment in the current financial year - there are already about 700 children on treatment. They represent roughly 30% of all those who would need such assistance. Some of these children have already been receiving treatment for almost two years - many of whom may already have died without this help.

The main sites where children are being treated are right here at Grootte Schuur Hospital, Red Cross Children's Hospital, Tygerberg Hospital, Khayelitsha, Paarl, George and Worcester - but children will be able to obtain treatment at any of our 16 roll-out sites in the new year.

This milestone has been made possible partly because of the success of our prevention of mother to child transmission programme - which has reduced HIV transmission from HIV positive mothers to their babies to approximately 8% in the Western Cape. This has been confirmed in studies conducted by the Provincial AIDS Programme of the Department of Health and researchers at the UCT School of Public Health.

As with so many of our Western Cape achievements in the battle against Aids, this announcement has also been made possible by an important public-private partnership between our Department of Health and the One to One Children's Fund - a UK-based charitable organisation that has already committed more than R2,5 million to this battle and which already funds the treatment of 220 children here at Grootte Schuur Hospital.

I am very pleased today to formally extend our partnership with One to One which has committed a further R2,5 million over the next few years. Our Government will take over the funding of the ARV drugs and laboratory costs for these 220 children by 1 April 2005 - but One to One will continue to assist with mentoring of clinicians and other inputs into our treatment programme.

One to One has assisted us in developing a child treatment model that will be used across the province and which has potential to be used across South Africa. By developing a holistic approach to treatment that includes aspects like income generating projects and education of families, this model has been very successful in keeping patients on the strict treatment program. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr David Altschuler, Co-founder and Chairman of One to One, who is with us here today. I would also like to formally accept the partnership between his organisation and our Western Cape Government.

Enquiries: Riaan Aucamp
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