JOHANNESBURG, Nov 28, 2006 (AFP) - The number of South Africans going for voluntary HIV/AIDS counselling and tests has almost doubled to 1.7 million in the last year, the health ministry announced on Tuesday.
A total of 1,715,588 people underwent pre-test counselling under government's voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) programme between April 2005 and March 2006, ministry spokesman Sibani Mngadi said.
Of these, 1,374,638 (80 percent) went on to get tested and 479,086 (35 percent) were found to be HIV-positive.
"The progress in increasing the uptake into VCT is largely attributed to HIV and AIDS awareness campaigns which encourages people to know their HIV status," Mngadi said in a statement.
He said the latest figures were almost double the amount of people making use of the programme in the previous financial year, when one million were counselled and 866,000 tested.
Around 5.5 million of the country's population of 47 million are infected with HIV, the second highest rate in the world after India.
061128
AF061195
Copyright ©AFP 2006. All Rights Reserved. AFP articles contained on the AEGiS web site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without AFP's prior written permission. You may make one copy of each article for your personal, non-commercial use only; more copies would require AFP's prior written permission. obtained from the owners of any trademarks or copyrighted materials whose marks and materials are included in AFP photos or materials. Therefore you will be solely responsible for obtaining any and all necessary releases from whatever individuals and/or entities necessary for any uses of AFP stories, photos or graphics. http://www.afp.com/
AEGiS is a 501(c)3, not-for-profit, tax-exempt, educational corporation. AEGiS is made possible through unrestricted grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, Elton John AIDS Foundation, the National Library of Medicine, Bridgestone Firestone Trust Fund, and donations from users like you. Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2006. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.
©1990, 2006 - AEGiS. AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content.
