INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS

Premier Helen Zille drew the winners of the Know Your Status and Win campaign. Photo: David Ritchie

Nearly 11 000 people were tested in the Know Your Status and Win campaign, which may become a regular feature in the province.

On Wednesday Premier Helen Zille drew the names of four people who each won R10 000, and that of the overall winner of R50 000.

The winner of the grand prize was mother-of-two Maureen Janse from St Helena Bay on the West Coast.

The other winners were from Site B in Khayelitsha, Thembalethu in George, Mossel Bay and Greenfield.

Further details were not available until the winners were contacted and gave their permission to be identified.

Of the 10 631 people who were tested at specified stations over 10 days, 4 100 were from the Cape metro.

The Cape Winelands district municipality saw 400 people tested, 3 824 in the Eden district, 400 in the Overberg, and 400 from the West Coast.

In the Central Karoo district, 1 507 people were tested. Zille said this was significant because 648 people were tested in three days.

This was more than the monthly average of 600.

In December last year, 67 111 people were tested.

Zille expected the figure to be higher this year because of the campaign.

“The bottom line is that people respond to incentives,” said Zille, who hailed the campaign a success. She said the reality was that those who stubbornly did not want to get tested, were those crucially in need of doing so.

While the data still had to be audited, preliminary results indicated a spike in the number of people who were tested. There was also a significant increase at routine testing centres that were not part of the campaign, said Zille.

Professor Craig Househam, head of the Health Department in the province, said detailed statistics would be available in mid-January.

Zille is expected to meet Househam and other experts to discuss the possibility of rolling out the campaigns throughout the year. She raised the possibility of a suburb-by-suburb competition to increase the chances of winning.

The aim was to halve the number of HIV transmissions over the next few years, said Zille.

The campaign, however, was slammed by several groups. – Staff Reporter