U.S. Global Aids Coordinator ambassador Deborah Birx pointed out that the US was initially disappointed at the pace in which the programme has run thus far saying it needs to be accelerated.
Soweto - U.S. Global Aids Coordinator ambassador Deborah Birx has lauded the ambitious plan by the South African government to place two million people on antiretroviral treatment by December 2020 but says President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration needs to fast-track the campaign now more than ever.
But Birx said while the US has been thrilled that the intervention will assist millions of people, it would be foolhardy for the country and the rest of the world to be lax about the pandemic. With only less than 24 months to go before South Africa reaches the target it has set itself, Birx said the numbers at this stage were very vital.She added that last month, the Pepfar team working with the Department of Health discovered that up to 42 000 people are currently receiving ARVs at a number of clinics pointing out that “it shows that it can be done.”
On the Pepfar programme he said: I was serving in government, as was Ambassador Birx, when President George W. Bush established the PEPFAR program in 2004. We’ve invested $6 billion here in South Africa in young people like the young women behind us, and it’s a magnificent use of U.S.
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