South Africa has the largest number of people living with AIDS (PWAs) in the world. Anti-retrovirals, unavailable to most of the population, could alleviate personal suffering and reduce the effects on South Africa’s development.

Through the Right to Care initiative, USAID supports expansion of access to quality treatment and care. Aiming to bring South Africa to a point of “treatment readiness”, where the health system has the capacity to rollout public, safe, and effective anti-retroviral treatment for HIV/AIDS, this program focuses on partnership building to expand treatment.

Since 2002, Right to Care has improved the environment for effective delivery of anti-retroviral treatment. Specifically, RTC has:

• Supported more than 400 patients on treatment, including 38 HIV-positive employees through the workplace programme
• Helped to spread the understanding of the economic viability of offering anti-retrovirals
• Reached over 100 doctors and 80 psychologists with vital clinical information
• Provided access to treatment for 10 000 people through the workplace programme

For more information on Right to Care, please visit/contact: Dr Sanne Ian (011) 445 6203