UNICEF commemorates World AIDS Day 2024 at launch of Eastern Cape Global Alliance chapter

Pretoria, 6 December 2024 - To mark World AIDS Day 2024, UNICEF joined UNAIDS and other partners for the launch of a Provincial Plan by the Eastern Cape Chapter of the Global Alliance to End AIDS in Children by 2030.

Themed “Equal Rights, Equal Care” and hosted by the Eastern Cape AIDS Council (ECAC) and the Provincial Health Department, the event was presided over by Eastern Cape Premier, Oscar Mabuyane, Provincial Health MEC, Ms Ntandokazi Capa, and the Patron of the South African chapter of the Global Alliance, Ms Humile Mashatile.

UNICEF South Africa/2024UNICEF South Africa Representative, South African Patron for Global Alliance to end AIDS in 2030, Humile Mashatile  and UNAIDS South Africa Country Director Eva Kiwango, at the national World AIDS Day 2024 commemoration in the Eastern Cape.

South Africa faces a high burden of HIV infection rates, particularly among children and young people. The Eastern Cape launch of the Global Alliance to End AIDS in Children by 2030 is vital, considering these striking facts:

• South Africa has the largest number of children living with HIV in the world - approximately 160,000.
• Approximately 45,000 children are currently not on treatment, which is a serious concern. To address this, UNICEF is working with government, partners and communities to encourage testing and adherence to treatment so that these children can live healthy and productive lives.
• The Eastern Cape province is one of the three provinces in South Africa with the highest number of HIV cases in the country.
• There were 24,856 children (aged 0 -14 years) living with HIV in the Eastern Cape province in 2023. Another 1,360 children were newly infected with HIV and 255 children died of AIDS-related illnesses during the same period.

The launch of the Global Alliance is a collective commitment to #EndAIDS in children by 2030. This can only be done through a strong, strategic and action-oriented alliance of multisectoral stakeholders at provincial, national, regional and global levels. Working in particular with women living with HIV and their families as well as national governments and partners, we need to mobilize leadership, funding and action.

The work of the Global Alliance is aligned to four pillars:

1. Early testing and optimized comprehensive, high-quality treatment and care for infants, children, and adolescents living with HIV to achieve universal coverage of ART and viral suppression.
2. Closing the treatment gap for pregnant and breastfeeding women living with HIV and optimizing continuity of treatment towards the goal of elimination of vertical transmission.
3. Preventing new HIV infections among pregnant and breastfeeding adolescents and women.
4. Addressing rights, gender equality, social/structural barriers that hinder access.

Following, the national launch in KwaZulu-Natal in 2023, the Eastern Cape is leading the way with a provincial plan, and we look forward to launching chapters in Mpumalanga and Limpopo soon.