Dira Sengwe Unclaimed

“South Africa now has the largest ARV programme in the world, with excellent results in its prevention of mother to child programme, and the first improvement in overall life expectancy in two decades. Coverage is steadily improving, with access to excellent first line drugs and solid monitoring. The national treasury has funded the programme appropriately. This rosy picture bears no resemblance to the situation five short years ago, where a denialist president, with the collusion of our health minister and a large number of the cabinet, delayed and stymied the HIV response within the country, conservatively causing the deaths of 400 000 people for lack of access to antiretrovirals. It took the action of a large number of brave organisations and individuals, within civil society and the state, to oppose the unjustness of the Mbeki era, as well as significant leadership afterwards to attend to the damage.  People watched as their family, friends and colleagues got ill and died, and galvanised civil society in a way not seen since apartheid. This award acknowledges the people who have showed incredible bravery during our AIDS response – activists, community members, health workers, politicians, journalists, researchers – and who have made our HIV programme something that South Africa can finally take pride in.”