U=U campaign aims to get HIV+ people back on treatment
eThekwini Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda says through the Welcome Back initiative, the city is seeing a promising number of HIV positive individuals getting back on treatment.
He was speaking during the launch of the U=U campaign in Durban.
It's a partnership between the municipality and UNAIDS.
The main message under the campaign, in reference to the H-I virus, is that undetectable equals untransmissible.
Kaunda says active tracing has been key to the success.
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"We have also started a new campaign of actively tracing all previous clients and those who moved out of treatment at various health facilities. These patients are being linked back into care through the Welcome Back campaign.
"To successfully drive this campaign. we have placed 27 peer educators adn 14 adherence officers in health facilities to strengthen adherence and retention in care."
Kaunda says the effectiveness of the programme is evident in the latest figures of those who'd recently tested positive for HIV.
"Recently 10 498 people tested positive for HIV and 9 598 where linked into care which calculated into 91.4% linkage rate."
