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HIV/AIDS and tourism top the KZN agenda
Sipho Khumalo. 26 May 2004. The Mercury. Republished courtesy of Independent Newspapers (Pty) Ltd.
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KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sbu Ndebele has announced a comprehensive strategy to fight HIV/AIDS in the province, which includes accrediting more institutions to administer anti-retrovirals and increasing the number of patients on the programme.
Delivering his state-of-the-province address in Pietermaritzburg yesterday, Ndebele noted that KwaZulu-Natal had the highest rate of people living with HIV/AIDS.
Currently, said Ndebele, the provincial department of health was providing voluntary counselling and testing, and CD4-count and viral-load tests.
His government was committed to combating the epidemic through a comprehensive strategy focusing on prevention, care and support for HIV-negative and HIV-positive people, he said.
"This includes the treatment of opportunistic infections and sexually transmitted infections, and traditional and complementary medicines," he said, adding that the roll-out had begun.
Eight institutions were now accredited to administer anti-retrovirals to 200 patients.
"By early June, 12 more sites will have been added and by September 30 sites will be operational, with 800 patients on treatment programmes.
"By March 2005, 40 ART sites will be running and 20 000 will be on treatment," he said.
This would be more than any other province, he said, and these centres would be distributed in districts, with a mixture of rural and urban sites.
There were already 465 voluntary counselling and testing sites, of which 43 were outside health institutions.
Ndebele also announced wide-ranging measures to kickstart the economy and the tourism industry in the province. On the long-awaited King Shaka International Airport, Ndebele said the province had never been so close to finalisation of this project.
He recently had a meeting with a senior Airport Company South Africa official and did not expect any further delays.
"Strong co-ordination and leadership will be given by the Office of the Premier, together with the Department of Economic Development, Transport, both national and provincial, the eThekwini municipality and Acsa," he said, adding that President Thabo Mbeki had indicated there was a "political will" for this project to take off.
It remained a concern that KwaZulu-Natal was one of the minority provinces that did not as yet have a Provincial Growth and Development Strategy.
"By the end of October, we will release a ... strategy which will not only draw lessons from Integrated Development Plan of local governments, but will ensure co-ordinated service delivery with the local government sphere and other service providers," he said.
On the controversial issue of the Zulu monarch, Ndebele said the matter would be finalised by the end of November.
"This will be for the first time since 1879 (the battle of Ulundi) that His Majesty will be formally recognised with defined powers by a government in this province," he said.
The state-of-the-province address, which received a standing ovation from many parliamentarians, will be debated during today's sitting. |
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