Laura Owings asks how the campaign is going and what recent real-world HPV vaccine effectiveness data from the United Kingdom might mean for South Africa.
In 2014, South Africa launched an HPV vaccination campaign targeting nine-year-old public schoolchildren in Grade 4. It involves delivering two doses of vaccine six months apart. Spotlight finds out how the campaign is going and what recent real-world HPV vaccine effectiveness data from the Uni.
In February last year, the national department of health said that it aimed to make a pill to prevent HIV infection available at all community health centres and primary healthcare clinics in South Africa by the end of September 2020.
With only 36% of public healthcare facilities providing the pills by January 2021, government has fallen short of this ambitious target. While government places most of the blame for this on the catastrophic impact of Covid-19, experts suggest there is more to it than just the pandemic.
Currently in South Africa, which is home to the biggest HIV epidemic in the world, HIV prevention efforts include four main interventions – condoms, prevention pills, voluntary medical male circumcision, and access to antiretroviral therapy for people living with HIV (people living with HIV are non-infectious as long as ARVs (anti-retrovirals) successfully suppresses the virus in their bodies).