Remarks at a Visit
to Delft South Clinic and PEPFAR Transition Signing
Remarks
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Delft South Clinic
Cape Town, South Africa
August
8, 2012
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, it is such a great
pleasure and honor to be with all of you here today to mark a new chapter in
our country’s shared fight against HIV/AIDS.
And I so well remember that meeting three years ago with the Minister and
with my colleague, Dr. Eric Goosby, Ambassador Goosby. We were looking for ways
to be helpful. We were quite pleased at the strong position taken by President
Zuma and his government. And we knew that Minister Motsoaledi had been given a
huge task.
I have to tell you just personally, but also on behalf of the American team
who are here, who have worked on this, we are very grateful to you, Minister,
because it is one thing to – (applause) – be given a very important and
difficult task, as you were, and it’s something even more important to have
implemented so successfully. And to all the members of the South Africa team,
at the national level, at the provincial and local level, we are very, very
impressed and very grateful for what we have seen happen these last three
years.
So I, of course, want to thank the Minister. Also Mayor, thank you. Mayor de
Lille, thank you for being here. MEC Botha, thank you. Dr. Grimwood, Sister de
Villiers, thank you all for welcoming us here today.
I am joined by a delegation of Americans who are committed to our
relationship with South Africa, and in particular to our shared fight against
HIV/AIDS. The U.S. Ambassador to South Africa, Don Gips, the U.S. Global AIDS
coordinator, Ambassador Eric Goosby. Would you stand up Dr. Goosby, please?
(Applause.) And of course, we very much appreciate working with Ambassador
Rasool, who represents your country so well in Washington. Ambassador John
Davies, director for North America, Assistant Secretary Johnnie Carson, who
works on African issues with me in the State Department, and so many others who
are here.
Since 2003, our countries have worked side by side through the U.S.
initiative known as PEPFAR. Our collaboration has been vast and effective. The
United States has provided $3.2 billion U.S. dollars to support South Africa’s
comprehensive response to the epidemic. (Applause.) And look at the results.
Together, through our joint efforts, more than 1.2 million South Africans began
treatment for HIV, and 2.4 million people with HIV have received care. Nearly
15 million people were tested during last year’s national testing campaign. And
I, too, wish to applaud everyone who has worked so hard to bring down the rate
of mother-to-child transmission. It’s now down to a remarkable 2.7 percent, and
we want to work with you to bring it to zero – (applause) – so no baby is every
born with the virus.
And the number of places where South Africans can receive antiretroviral
drugs has grown from 490 to 3,000, and I just saw and heard about the very
impressive work being done in this pharmacy to ensure that drugs are dispensed
efficiently with some very new, creative ideas about how to do that in order to
try to deal with the long lines that are traditional at pharmacy windows. I’ve
been in many such clinics, not only in Africa, but even in my own country, and
the crowd around the windows is often two, three, four, five people deep, and
it may take hours. I’m going to be immediately texting my husband about what I
have seen here. (Laughter and applause.) And as you know, he worked with Dr.
Goosby and other physicians and experts way back when on many of these issues.
But we have to constantly be asking ourselves what can we do and what we can we
do more efficiently to get more results more quickly.
Now, when we look back at where South Africa was a decade ago, these numbers
represent remarkable progress. AIDS did represent an unprecedented national
emergency, and we needed to scale up treatment and care to millions of people
as fast as we could. That’s what we’ve done together. But let’s be honest here,
this disease is still very dangerous. It’s still demands our close attention.
But at least now there is a system in place that can help keep it under control
and hopefully prevent it, so we can achieve that AIDS-free generation that I
and others spoke of at the AIDS conference in Washington.
So please let me say to all of you across South Africa, who have contributed
to this fight at every level of government, and the civil society, and the
private sector, thank you for what you have done. Because of you, South Africa
and the entire region has the hope for a better, healthier, more secure future.
But even as we take this moment to say well done, we cannot make the mistake
of thinking our job is done. Our countries share this goal of an AIDS-free
generation. That means making sure every person who needs antiretroviral
treatment gets it; every pregnant woman with HIV receives the support she needs
so her child is born and stays HIV-free and the mother remains healthy; all
South Africans have access to the information and resources they need to
protect themselves from this infection. Now, these are the objectives of the
work that we’ve already begun together. We need to stay focused and committed.
And I want to just add that I was recently in Uganda on this trip, and many
of you who have worked in HIV/AIDS for a long time know Uganda was the success
story. Uganda tackled this epidemic earlier, more forcefully than most
countries in the world. In fact, the very first patient to receive
antiretroviral drugs from PEPFAR was in Kampala, Uganda, and I met him when I
was there. I shook his hand. I met his daughters, of whom he is very proud. So
he came in nearly dead and has now lived for years with the disease.
However – I discussed this with the President of Uganda, with health
workers, with the Health Minister – Uganda is now the only country in
Sub-Saharan Africa where the infection is going up, because they are the first
to tell you they stopped focusing on prevention. So the system for taking care
of people already infected has to be focused and supported, but let’s not
forget prevention, because we do not want to see reversals of all the progress
that has been made here and elsewhere.
This is has been a true partnership. Both South Africa and the United States
brought resources, expertise, and commitment. We could not have done it without
our mutual investment. And what we are doing here today will ensure that our
partnership continues. The Partnership Framework that Minister Mashabane and I
signed in 2010 described the next phase of our country’s shared fight. The
document that will be signed here now, the Implementation Plan for the
Partnership Framework, is a roadmap for how we will carry out this next phase.
It puts South Africa firmly in the lead while committing both countries to the
core goals of expanding prevention, care, and treatment to more people, while
making sure that existing services continue without interruption.
By taking the lead and continuing to increase its investments, the South
African Government is ensuring that its national strategy will be sustainable,
efficient, and even more responsive to the specific needs of different
communities and populations. And the coalition that South Africa has created
with government, civil society, faith-based organizations, academic medical
centers, and others will be a powerful motor for progress.
Nonetheless, some people may hear South Africa is in the lead and think that
means that the United States is bowing out. So let me say this clearly: The
United States is not going anywhere. (Applause.) We will continue to be your
close partners through PEPFAR. We will continue working with the government and
civil society. We have formed many close and vital relationships in the past
decade, and we remain committed to them.
During this transition period, we will continue to directly support the
healthcare needs of the people of South Africa. We will focus on supporting the
South African Government as it strengthens its technical capacities so it can
do even more in the long run. So while this partnership is changing, we believe
it is changing for the better. This is what our governments always hoped and
intended, that South Africa would increasingly be in the lead. It is a signal
of the strong progress we’ve made and the strong relationship we have built.
So today at this clinic, whose name translates, I am told, into meaning
“choose life,” in Cape Town alone, you are providing treatment for more than
26,000 people. You have been supported by PEPFAR. We are going to continue to
work with you even as the South African Government increases its support. We
are in this for the long haul. This disease is no respecter of boundaries, no
respecter of any kind of attribute. It does not respect race or religion,
ethnicity, gender. It is an equal opportunity infection – (laughter) – and can
be an equal opportunity killer.
So this is part of what we all should be working toward, where we, with our
shared humanity, reach out to help one another, but also recognize the
responsibility to help ourselves. And we are delighted that we are at this
important juncture. We will embark upon the next chapter in our relationship
with renewed determination, because our goal is no new AIDS patients. AIDS
patients – zero is the number we are looking for. And by continuing to work
together and embracing smart strategies, I believe that the United States and
South Africa can reach that goal.
Thank you all so very much. (Applause.)
