Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2008. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - July 20, 2008
Claire Keeton
You stand your best chance of winning R100000 if you enter the Right to Know HIV testing competition now.
The first draw in this competition, launched by Discovery Health and the Sunday Times two weeks ago, will be in mid-August.
This draw will have the smallest number of entries because every entry, excluding the winners', will continue to be valid for every monthly draw.
Within a week of the launch, 26 people had posted their entry forms to the Sunday Times. The postmarks show their entries came from all provinces, though most were from Gauteng.
Scott Billy, the technical adviser for the New Start HIV testing organisation, said that in Johannesburg and Durban people had arrived at New Start's offices with entry forms wanting to get tested.
The number of people visiting the HIV-911 website, which is linked to Right to Know, soared after the launch of the competition.
HIV-911 director Debbie Heustice said on Thursday: "We have seen the kind of traffic in half a month that we would normally record in a month."
HIV-911 refers people to more than 7000 HIV-related support services in South Africa, including voluntary counselling and testing (VCT).
Heustice said: "We have had 36250 hits just this month and close to 11000 pages have been viewed. We have already exceeded the hits we would get in a month and have had a record number of unique visitors."
The Right to Know website (www.righttoknow.co.za), created to support the campaign, is also attracting attention.
Health professionals, including doctors and pharmacists, have welcomed the initiative.
One doctor phoned Discovery Health early on Monday after the launch to say people were already at his rooms with their competition forms in hand.
Another doctor wrote to Discovery Health: "I have been struggling for 13 years in a township practice to convince people to be tested and this sounds like a real incentive to get this chronic condition under control."
Dr Grietjie Strydom, head of private programmes for the medical NGO Right to Care, said: "We are offering subsidised training on counselling and rapid testing for any doctor or nurse that wishes to participate in the Right to Know programme.
"Right to Care will also provide free rapid HIV test kits to doctors and nurses who attend the training."
Anyone can get tested at a pharmacy with testing facilities. Dis-Chem and Clicks offer HIV testing and also have competition boxes for entries.
Meanwhile, Alfred Mikosi, general manager of Lifeline Southern Africa, said that after the launch his organisation had not noticed a change in the number of callers to the National Aids Helpline, which Lifeline manages.
He said: "Our call rate is quite high anyway and we haven't yet seen an impact. We get 2000 to 3000 people a day calling in."
The Right to Know campaign aims to encourage more people to find out their HIV status so that they can get treatment and prevent new infections.
Discovery Health CEO Neville Koopowitz proposed the idea of cash incentives for HIV testing after he and members of his team had joined Each One Reach Five - a Sunday Times- initiated HIV-testing campaign, which will continue.
To take part in Right to Know you must go for pre-and post-test counselling on HIV/Aids and give your consent to be tested. Forms are available in the Sunday Times as well as at www.righttoknow.co.za
Your healthcare professional must sign the entry form, confirming that the test was done and that you received the results. Remember to take the entry form when you get tested.
HIV test results are not revealed. You must be over the age of 16 to participate.
# HIV-911 refers people to more than 7000 HIV-related support services, including voluntary counselling and testing. For referral information call 0860-448-911 during office hours or visit www.hiv911.org.za
# The National Aids Helpline on 0800-012-322 provides a confidential, anonymous 24-hour toll-free telephone counselling, information and referral service.
# The Treatment Action Campaign has a group for people with HIV/Aids. For more information call 0861-END HIV (0861-363-448) or e-mail pwasector@tac.org.za
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