South Africa’s (SA) President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to launch the rollout of lifesaving Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) prevention medicine, at the Lillian Ngoyi Stadium in Mpumalanga province on Friday.
Lenacapavir is administered via injection twice a year, offering patients six months of continuous HIV protection per dose.
SA is reported to have one of the highest HIV infection rates in the world, with approximately eight million infected persons.
The SA Presidency has hailed the treatment as a major breakthrough in the fight against HIV.
Chairperson of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) Sibongile Tshabalala says, “We have a number of preventative tools starting from condoms, Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PREP), and other preventative tools that are not talked about a lot. This one, we believe that it will do much because it has less administration.
“So, for instance, when you are getting it, you’ll get it once every six months, which no one will know, unlike with PREP pills that people are having a stigma around. But with this one, it will be very discreet, you will just go to the facility and you get your injection and then you continue with your life,” explains Tshabalala.
–SABC–
