The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health is making significant strides towards improving HIV treatment outcomes, as recent data reveal a commendable performance in three leading districts. 

This was revealed at the KZN Provincial Council on AIDS on Wednesday.

Jacqueline Ngozo, the acting chief director of the Strategic Health Programme at the KZN Department of Health, presented statistics highlighting the province’s progress in achieving its 95-95-95 targets. 

“What is important is to highlight the three districts that are leading in terms of the 95-95-95 targets, which is uMkhanyakude. I think in the last quarter, we presented uMkhanyakude and Harry Gwala as the two districts that are leading. They are now joined by Zululand, which is also at 98-91-82. UMkhanyakude is still leading in 98-90-89 and Harry Gwala at 98-89-90,” Ngozo said. 

Ngozo explained that the first 95 target focuses on people living with diagnosed HIV. The province currently has an aggregate of 98%, exceeding the target in the first and second quarters.

She said the challenge lies in the second 95 target: ensuring all HIV-positive individuals are on ARVs/treatment. The province remains at 87%. 

She also said that their goal, as outlined in the last 95, is to achieve viral load suppression for all patients currently receiving treatment.

Provincially, there has been improvement, moving from 80% in the first quarter to 83% in the second quarter.

“As a province, if you look at our gap, it was 112,431 (quarter 3). But you can see now in quarter two, we’re sitting at 97,147. So, we have really moved as a province, and we are really trying hard to close this gap,” Ngozo said. 

She added that these three leading districts have significantly closed the gap toward the second 95% target, requiring only 2,754, 3,066, and 2,358 more people, respectively, to be on treatment. Other districts are also making progress, though at a slower pace.

Quarter 2’s HIV campaign status report shows 14,532 new people initiated on treatment, 29,471 successfully returned to treatment, and 15,480 transfers. Since the campaign began, 1,810 people on treatment have died.

“Overall, between the new patients that we’ve started and those that we have restarted on treatment and those who have been transferred in, actually, we have more than 59,000 people that should have ended in our pool of people that are on treatment. But again, we have lost 43,882 people,” Ngozo said. 

“It is important that we actually encourage our people to stay on treatment and make sure that once they start the treatment, they are here.” 

Ngozo said they primarily lose children and men, with children often requiring caregivers for treatment access.

“The disclosure at the community level is not happening as much as we want. This is why there have been recommendations that we work closely with Social Development, which can assist us with the disclosure of children,” Ngozo said. 

KZN Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli said there is progress in terms of 95-95-95 though there are still gaps in the 1.1 million close the gap campaign. 

“What is good about the information is that we now understand, as the council, where the weaknesses are in terms of the districts. We need to zoom in on those districts and, within a district, zoom in on the hotspots so that our programmes can reach out to the targeted groups,” Ntuli said.

He said, unfortunately, some targets were not met. However, he is hopeful it will be corrected and that they will work together. 

“What is worrisome is a number of children who are supposed to be on ARVs who are not on ARVs, especially in the highly populated district such as eThekwini,” Ntuli said. 

“I think we need to put together a plan that will be much more aggressive so that we are able to address and correct that.” 

Social Development MEC Mbali Shinga said: “I think it is important to really note the improvement in numbers.”

“However, we need to copy the working mechanisms in those districts that have improved and benchmark where necessary.” 

Shinga emphasised that victory requires collaboration, not solitary effort, involving all stakeholders. 

thobeka.ngema@inl.co.za 

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