Free AIDS treatment for W-Cape township dwellers

SOUTH AFRICA: Free AIDS treatment for W-Cape township dwellers

JOHANNESBURG, 7 Mar 2005 (PLUSNEWS) - The British fundraising NGO, Cruisaid, together with the Western Cape provincial government, recently launched a free HIV/AIDS treatment centre in the township of Gugulethu, near Cape Town, South Africa.

The Hannan Crusaid ARV Treatment Centre will not only provide counselling and anti-AIDS drugs to the residents of Gugulethu, but also to people from the surrounding communities of Nyanga, Mannenberg and Heideveld.

BuaNews, the government news agency, quoted provincial Health MEC Pierre Uys as saying: "This [centre] is to show how much we care about our people. Thanks to Crusaid for their generosity - the facility will allow us to provide good treatment and restore the dignity of the people of Gugulethu."

The township is believed to have the province's highest HIV/AIDS rate, with around 38,000 of its estimated 340,000 population living with the virus.

[ENDS]

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