Ramaphosa Hails Lenacapavir Launch as Watershed in HIV Battle

Now we are definitely moving away from denialism to treatment and now to elimination,” he remarked. Ramaphosa South Africa has the greatest load of HIV in the world with more than 8 million individuals living with the infection. It is believed lenacapavir will help reduce new infections, which annually number between 140,000 and 170,000.

The first batch of 37,920 tablets is being handed to 360 health centers in six areas with high HIV incidence. But other civil society organisations in South Africa say the distribution strategy is inadequate and that at least 2 million pills are needed to make a meaningful dent in the new infection rates.

The government has bought 912,000 pills for 456,000 patients with $29 million from the Global Fund. Lenacapavir is also expected to greatly reduce pill tiredness and missed doses, common issues for users of existing oral preventive drugs. Olwam Plaatjie grew up in South Africa and seen the devastating impacts of HIV on her family and society. When she was 16, she decided to start taking HIV prevention medicines.

The 19-year-old is among thousands of South Africans who signed up to test lenacapavir. “I’ve seen people not take their meds and get really sick,” she said. “That made me realise that it could be me one day, so I decided to prevent that and protect myself as people don’t reveal their status.

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