Durban — The number of young people infected with HIV and STI keeps on increasing. This is according to the Department of Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla.
He said the people affected the most were adolescent girls and young women. Phaahla said this was a major challenge for South Africa.
“Through our Youth Prevention strategy called Zikhala Kanjani we hope to reduce HIV and STIs for the 15-24 years age by 40% by 2025. To increase efficacy and viral suppression we have made the drug dolutegravir TLD more accessible for adults and adolescents and a number of new, safer and effective treatments have also been added,” he said.
Phaahla added that an effective treatment for children called Dolutegravir (DTG) had been approved by SA Health Products Regulatory Authority.
He said all these medicines would increase safety and efficacy.
When Sahpra approved the DTG its CEO, Dr Boitumelo Semete-Makokotlela said the sweet-tasting combination treatment for the infants and young children with HIV came in granules that could be sprinkled on soft food and dissolved in milk or water. She further said this treatment did not require refrigeration.
“These new treatment regimens for infants and children with HIV herald a huge breakthrough. The formulations are also recommended by the World Health Organization,” she said.
The DTG was approved last year. Furthermore, the HSRC expressed that it was disappointed that the uptake of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) had been lower than it had hoped. PreP is a medication that protects those who might be at risk of contracting HIV. It is taken by those who are at risk of getting HIV such as teenagers, LGBTQI+ community, sex workers and those who have partners who are HIV positive.
HSRC clinical projects director, Dr Shannon Bosman said, it was anticipated that the PreP would lower HIV incidents, but there had been low uptake, challenges with daily adherence and poor prep persistence, particularly among young people. He said two of the challenges were that people were not aware of what products are available and where they could get them, how they could access them and how they could use them.
Phaahla added that TB remained a twin infectious disease and cause of mortality in the world and in the country.
“Like HIV and Aids, we also lost ground in testing and treatment for TB. We have missed our target of a TB success rate of 90% by 2022 and we are at 76% after Covid-19,” he said.
He said they were hoping to catch up through their recovery plan approved by the SA National Aids Council and the introduction of the new shorter treatments which will see Drug Resistant TB treatment moving from nine months from the previous two years before 2018 to a new six months treatment. Treatment of children with drug-sensitive TB would decline from six to four months.
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