South Africa: Cape Businesses Advised to Step Up HIV Fight

South African Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS CEO Brad Mears on Wednesday urged Western Cape businesses to invest more resources in fighting the epidemic. Speaking at the launch of the coalition's Western Cape chapter, Mears urged businesses to forge partnerships with local and provincial health department officials.

Mears said the province's HIV rate -- the lowest in South Africa -- is no cause for complacency. According to a survey released last week, 15.7 percent of pregnant women attending government clinics in Western Cape last year were HIV-positive. The national figure was 30.2 percent.

Cape Town's health director, Ivan Toms, noted that Western Cape's HIV prevalence varies widely between districts, with one in three pregnant women in Khayelitsha testing positive last year, compared to 12.9 percent of women at antenatal clinics in Mitchell's Plain. Toms said denial continues to fuel the epidemic. "Too many people think it's everyone else's problem," Toms said.

Toms said more than 15,000 people in Western Cape are getting HIV/AIDS drugs, representing about 65 percent of those who need them. By 2010, an estimated 80,000 Western Cape patients will need treatment, he said, warning that the province's existing clinics and hospitals will not be able to handle that many patients.

"We need business to see HIV as more than a bottom line issue," Toms said. "It's also [their] social responsibility."

Treatment Action Campaign Secretary-General Sipho Mthathi urged businesses to confront the national government on its weak leadership on HIV/AIDS. She noted more needs to be done to fight Western Cape's growing drug problems, and she said a rise in methamphetamine use is fueling the HIV epidemic.

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