South African Health Minister recovers from COVID just-in-time to lead the delegation to global Aids conference
Cape Town, South Africa – The Minister for Health, Dr Joe Phaahla has fully recovered from Covid and resumed his working duties. He tested positive a few days ago, after experiencing minor symptoms and immediately self-isolated. But the speed of his recovery comes as a shock as he was already preparing for the foreign trip before his infection.
The Department of Health spokesperson, Foster Mohale, said “The recovery comes ahead of his scheduled international business trip to lead the South African delegation to attend the 24th International Aids Conference to be held from July 29 – August 2 in Montreal, Canada.”
Mohale said the South African delegation consists of health professionals, policymakers, members of the South African National Aids Council (SANAC), Aids charities, non-governmental organisations working to prevent new HIV infections and other health care professionals for people with HIV.
He said South Africa has been participating in the International Aids Conference for the past two decades, and this is the world’s largest conference on HIV and Aids which brings together scientists, clinicians, academics, healthcare workers and people living with HIV, non-governmental organisations and media from across the world under one roof to share progress made in the fight against the pandemic and best practices, innovations to prevent the spread of new infections.
The spokesperson said, “Minister Phaahla will join and participate in a number of satellite sessions including the discussions around ‘Moving forward with actions: 90/90/90 recovery towards 95/95/95’ to be led by Dr Thembisile Xulu – Chief Executive Officer of SANAC.
He will also use this opportunity to hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts from other countries, executive leaders of development and donor funding organisations including Pepfar and Global Fund.”
Mohale added that among the key topics to be discussed during the conference; Re-engage and follow the science panel discussion to be co-chaired by Prof Linda-Gail Bekker, director of the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre at the University of Cape Town, the launch of the global alliance initiative to end Aids in Children by 2030, the Approaches for HIV cure and vaccine research and the Round-table discussions on the future of HIV media coverage.
Other topics of interest include: The new WHO Strategies for a sustainable health sector response for 2030 and beyond, Expanding Covid-19 Vaccine coverage among people living with HIV and key populations, and the next frontier for HIV treatment optimisation – Lessons from the past and visions for the future.