Health MEC Seaparo Sekoati called on all South Africans with HIV/Aids to take antiretrovirals and proper nutrition in order to boost their immune system.

Sekoati was the speaker during a candle-lighting ceremony with the theme “Lighting the path to a brighter future” as a remembrance of those who died of HIV/Aids. The event took place on Sunday.

He encouraged people to go for testing at their nearest health institutions in order to establish their status. Sekoati said if people tested positive, they had to choose healthy lifestyles.

According to him, caring for the sick must be a collective job of both the community, family members of the infected people and health workers. “Home-based care centers, doctors and nurses are playing a vital role in minimizing pains and stress that infected people experience. Although health institutions get criticism from community members, they are saving lives of people. We need to raise community awareness and decrease the stigma asosociated with the HI virus,” he added.

Sekoati advised the communities not to underestimate the good job that nurses are doing in different health institutions in the Limpopo Province.

According to the HIV/Aids statistics in South Africa, this pandemic is expected to dominate the business environment for the next 15 years and could result in an annual 1% decline in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It is expected that life expectancy will decline from 59 years to only 45 years by the year 2010. This pandemic is expected to be the major determinant of the ability of households to extricate themselve from poverty. In South Africa, 4 million people are living with the virus.