Issued by The Presidency
14 July 2010
Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe will on 16 July 2010, depart South Africa leading a high level government delegation that will represent South Africa at the International AIDS conference in Vienna, Austria convened under the theme: "Rights here, Right Now" from 18 - 23 July 2010.
Deputy President Motlanthe will be supported at the conference by Health Minister, Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi and Public Works Deputy Minister, Ms. Henrietta Bogopane-Zulu.
South Africa's participation at this year's conference comes amid an unprecedented massive HIV Counseling and Testing (HCT) campaign launched by President Jacob Zuma in April this year. This campaign seeks to test about 15 million people for HIV by June next year while also promoting positive sex behavior.
On World AIDS Day in December last year, President Zuma announced far-reaching policy interventions around treatment initiating patients on ARVs far sooner than was the case before amongst others.
The Vienna conference provides South Africa with a platform to demonstrate the importance of sustained investments in HIV in achieving broader national and international health and development goals. At the conference the health Minister will deliver an address during the plenary session of day three of the conference focusing on the theme of Universal Access and Treatment Scale-up.
South Africa's delegation at the conference will also provide a progress report against the indicators identified in the Declaration of Commitment signed by the UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV and AIDS (UNGASS) in June 2001. Key among these commitments was the realization of Universal Access to HIV prevention and Treatment interventions by 2010.
For more information please contact Vusi Mona (Presidency) +27 82 047 2260 on or Fidel Hadebe (Department of Health) on (+27) 079 517-3333.