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Cape Town – South Africa has bolstered its massive HIV testing programme by including eye tests, alongside blood pressure and TB tests in the campaign, but more needed to be done to ensure full coverage of testing.

Addressing MPs and NGO representatives in Parliament at the start of a two-day HIV testing campaign targeted at parliamentarians, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe said since the launch of the country’s testing campaign in 2010, 20 million South Africans had been tested for HIV.

Although the testing campaign has targeted various workplaces and communities across the country -- from farms to taxi ranks, to mines and banks -- Motlanthe stressed that more needed to be done to bring about full coverage of HIV testing.

“We must continue our programmes to achieve full coverage and more importantly we must maintain our focus on prevention, prevention and prevention,” he said.

Currently, HIV tests are complemented by the screening of individuals for TB and high blood pressure.

As HIV/Aids affects the eye sight of those who have the virus, eye tests would help expand the reach of the HIV testing and counseling campaign.

Motlanthe, who is also the chairman of the SA National Aids Council, also called on every South African to test annually for HIV, adding that it was important for South Africans to test regularly so that they can take the appropriate action.

“Those that test negative must do everything possible to ensure that they maintain their negative status and those that are HIV positive need to enrol in our treatment, care and support programme,” he said.

Also addressing MPs, the Speaker of the National Assembly, Max Sisulu, said the country had faced a heavy burden of HIV/Aids.

“Each one of us knows of a family member, a friend, a neighbour, a colleague, or comrade who is living with HIV/Aids or who has succumbed to it,” he said.

“Thankfully, we are however at a tipping point in the fight against HIV/Aids and TB,” he said, adding that he was particularly encouraged by recent statistics that revealed that the number of new HIV infections had declined and that the number of HIV/Aids related deaths were decreasing.

“We were able to do that because we dreamt an impossible dream – an Aids-free generation,” he said.

He said Parliament already offered counseling and testing services to MPs and officials through its wellness programme, however the country needed to push harder to reach zero infections and to end discrimination against HIV/Aids, he added.

The Minister of Health, Aaron Motsoaledi, said the aim was to run the testing campaign in Parliament on an annual basis.

He said before the launch of the government’s HIV testing and counseling campaign in 2010, voluntary testing reached just two million South Africans a year, but after the first year of the campaign about 18 million South Africans knew their HIV status.

Added to this those on anti-retroviral treatment (ARVs) had moved from 923 000 to 2.1 million people on treatment, with the number of facilities offering ARVs having climbed from 490 to 3 540 facilities.

Today, 23 000 nurses have been trained in treating HIV/Aids, up from just 250 before the launch of the campaign, he said. – SAnews.gov.za