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COSATU message of support to the World AIDS Day Commemoration  Cde Duncan Luvuno, COSATU 2nd Deputy President on behalf of Organised Labour

Hounarable Deputy President Paul Mashatile

Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi

Premier of the Eastern Cape, Mr Oscar Mabuyane

Chairperson of CSF, Cde Solly Nduku

All Ministers, Deputy Ministers and MECs present today.

Leadership of the Civil Society Forum

Workers and Comrades

All protocol observed.

Organised Labour joins millions of people around the world to mark World Aids Day, today 1st of December 2024, under the theme; “Equal Rights, Equal Care”. We appreciate this platform as it affords us an opportunity to raise awareness and encourage our workers to get tested for HIV and STIs and get linked to care.

South Africa accounts for 20 percent of new HIV infections and 20 percent of people living with HIV globally. Research shows us that the burden of the epidemic is overwhelmingly borne by black Africans, with key and priority populations, particularly persons with disabilities, disproportionately marginalised in accessing health services. There is no doubt that AIDS kills, and that poverty kills, our priority is that we seek to defeat both deadly leading factors that influence HIV infections which are HIV and poverty.

While the world is working towards achieving the UNAIDS 95–95–95 targets for HIV testing, we note with great concern that an estimated 1.3 million people acquired HIV in 2023, over three times more than the target of 370 000 of fewer new infections in 2025. the incidence of HIV among adolescent girls and young women aged 15–24 years is extraordinarily high in parts of sub-Saharan Africa. All stakeholders need to jointly tackle the underlying causes that leads young people to engage in risky sexual behaviour, alcohol, and drug abuse as well as the toxic phenomenon of sugar daddies that is mostly caused by poverty, exacerbating the percentage of adolescent girls and young women contracting HIV as they are three times more likely to acquire HIV than their male counterparts.

Deputy President, once again we note with great anxiety and displeasure the current financial crisis at SANAC and hereby call upon you honourable Deputy President as the Chair of SANAC to urgently intervene and facilitate the necessary urgent action that will ensure cash injection to the Council and overall sustainability of SANAC. Not so long ago, at the World TB day commemoration in March we raised the same concerns Deputy President, and it is worrying that the situation at SANAC remains unchanged.

SANAC cannot close its doors under your watch Hounarable Deputy President. We would have failed millions of our people who are living with HIV and all the gains that have been made over the years would have been lost. We have seen government bail out state owned institutions like Eskom and SAA many a times, with millions and millions of rands being pumped into these ailing institutions to ensure that they keep operating. Because we have seen this kind of financial rescue from government, we are confident that this same government is able to do the same for SANAC. Its about time that we take the issue of HIV, TB And STI response serious in this country and provide the necessary funding to enable the continued coordination that will lead this country to an HIV free generation.

As organised labour we therefore call upon government to attend to this matter with the urgency it deserves. We also call upon the private sector to inject funding into SANAC to ensure ongoing coordination and long-term sustainability of this body. The private sector cannot only want a seat at the table but fail to bring money to the same table.

We continue to strengthen our campaigns that focus on highlighting the importance of HIV prevention and testing, adequate education, advocacy and awareness as well as the critical impact of access to antiretroviral treatment. As part of our commitment to the response, organised labour is fully committed to eradicating TB, HIV and STIs and will continue to ensure that we have HTS services in all our major rallies, programmes and gatherings of workers. We continue to encourage workers to test for HIV and STIs and get linked to care.

Condomize, don’t compromise

Know your status

Cheka impilo

Amandla

Thank you very much