GUEST: Monwabisi Sidwell Mbatha - Chairperson of TAC in Gauteng 

According to new data from the Thembisa Output model, a subset of people started taking antiretroviral therapy far later than is ideal for their health, despite South Africa’s impressive HIV testing figures.

These new estimates present a synthesis of the best sources of data of HIV in the country as it factors in numbers from multiple sources.

The numbers show that around 237 000 people started taking antiretroviral therapy in 2023 in South Africa. Concerningly, over 46 000 adults started taking treatment only once their CD4 counts had dropped below 200 cells per cubic millimetre of blood.