South African mining giant Anglo American said on Monday it had formed a $1,3-million partnership project to accelerate Aids services in poor areas.
Anglo American chief executive Tony Trahar said the community Aids partnership project would help to enhance and accelerate the provision of comprehensive HIV/Aids services in government clinics.
”The next frontier in the effort to establish a comprehensive national Aids management programme is to ensure community-level access to the full range of services required to effectively prevent the further spread of HIV and to provide treatment and care for those already infected in community-friendly settings,” Trahar said in a statement issued in Johannesburg.
”A major goal of this initiative is to destigmatise Aids-related services by ensuring a community-friendly environment in public clinics,” he said.
Last Tuesday a government-appointed team gave South Africa’s health ministry a detailed plan on how to fight the scourge of Aids in South Africa, including the provision of anti-retroviral drugs.
South Africa’s government has avoided implementing an Aids treatment programme, despite a UN claim that almost 1 000 people die of the disease each day among a total of nearly five million citizens with HIV or full-blown Aids. – AFP
