World AIDS Day

World AIDS Day will be observed this Sunday, a day used to remember all those who have succumbed to the HIV and AIDS as well as a day to take stock of what has been done to reduce the numbers of infections. According to the latest statistics from UNAIDS close to 40 million people are living with HIV, 1.7 million became newly infected in 2018, 770 000 people died from AIDS related illnesses and close to 25 million people were accessing anti-retroviral therapy by the end of June this year. That is the conversation we are having this morning is how do we keep people on treatment for longer, I spoke to Nompumelelo Madonsela a community trace at Bertha Gxowa Hospital in Gauteng one of the provinces of South Africa about her role which includes calling about one hundred patients a week who have defaulted on their medication collections and clinic visits with the aim of bringing them back into the healthcare system.