LISTEN | HIV cure won't materialise in SA any time soon
Image: Shutterstock via The Conversation
Finding an HIV cure in SA is still an ongoing cause which might take years.
According to the World Health Organisation, SA has the largest HIV epidemic in the world, with 19% of the globe's HIV sufferers, 15% of new infections, and 11% of Aids-related deaths.
Dr Moeketsi Mathe, a HIV clinician from Sebokeng, said SA was working on a cure but we should not expect one soon.
Two days ago 40-year-old Adam Castillejo from London became the second person in the world to be cured of HIV.
He had a bone-marrow transplant to beat a cancer called Hodgkin's lymphoma. A similar treatment was used in 2011 to cure Timothy Ray Brown’s leukaemia.
The virus has since been undetectable in Castillejo’s body for more than 30 months.
Mathe says, however, that South Africans should not put their faith in getting this treatment and finding a cure just yet. They should rather look into getting prescribed treatment which is much cheaper and less risky.
LISTEN TO WHAT DR MATHE HAD TO SAY ABOUT THE MATTER: