Pretoria - Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe returned on Wednesday from a working visit to the United States, the presidency said.
Motlanthe attended the International Aids Conference in Washington DC, his spokesman Thabo Masebe said.
“Deputy President Motlanthe addressed the opening session of the conference, where he reported that South Africa had achieved impressive results over the past few years in the fight against HIV and Aids,” he said.
“In a year-long testing campaign, more than 20 million people took the HIV test. More than 1.7 million are receiving ARV 1/8antiretroviral 3/8 treatment, and the mother-to-child transmission of HIV has been reduced to 2.7 percent.”
Motlanthe thanked the US government, its people, and multilateral agencies including UNAIDS for supporting SA in its efforts to combat HIV.
The deputy president urged their continued support in South Africa and other African countries to create an HIV-free world. - Sapa