HIV campaign comes to a halt

By Tando Mfengwana

HIV prevention campaign, Khomanani, will close its provincial offices on Friday, bringing the door-to-door campaigning of more than 1 300 community volunteers to a stop at the end of next month.

This comes after Health Department officials decided against appointing a new service provider before existing contracts expired.

Government has declared 2006 the year of accelerated HIV/Aids prevention. This will especially put emphasis on communication campaigns to prevent the spread of the pandemic.

Government figures released on Friday show that more than 5. 4 million people are HIV positive in South Africa, making it the country with second highest HIV infection rate in the world, after India.