Hon Deputy Speaker, hon Deputy President and the House, over the past decade we journeyed together as a nation through rough waters and on difficult terrain in our common quest to find solutions to limit the high mortality and mobility of HIV and Aids with regard to our economy and our society as a whole.
We are now at a point at which we can say we have won many battles, including sometimes battling against one another, to arrive at the enviable moment of being at the beginning of winning the war against HIV and Aids.
As we are still counting a huge loss of life we have suffered within society and within the economy, we need to recognise the progress we have made together and build on this tangible progress. We must also recognise that we are only at the summit of success in dealing with this epidemic, including dealing with TB. We have conquered the ignorance, myths and stigma which, if we can recall, resulted in workers losing their jobs, in girl-children being raped, in HIV-positive women being stoned, in the sick and dying being rejected, sometimes by family and friends.
We have saved our nation from dying young, thus opening up opportunities for many of our young people to have the brighter future they deserve. We have given hope to families, in which, in the past, the elderly were parenting young people instead of their children looking after them and supporting them, and where thousands of orphans were left without parents. We have re-energised the health system and also given hope to all the health workers from the past, where clinics and hospitals were overflowing with the sick. We have also re-energised our economy where, in the past, we had unprecedented absenteeism and staff turnover rates in companies, as well as at our public facilities, including schools.
Our country stood together in pain and embraced this challenge in panic, in rationality, in paralysis and in activism. We remained ever hopeful and resolute that as a nation that has just woken up from the sunshine of democracy, it was meant for our young to live, to thrive and to prosper as we waged battle after battle for a common goal and for a common cause.
Today, we are more united and we celebrate the progress made over the past two years, led by President Zuma, Deputy President Motlanthe and Minister Motsoaledi. This progress we have made is unprecedented and can only be attributed to South Africans at their best.
Working together with those affected, civil society and business, the nation responded overwhelmingly with over 15 million citizens coming forth for counselling and testing. To date, over 60% of those needing treatment have access to it and the number of babies born HIV-positive has reduced by 50%. Our nurses availed themselves for training and service to work side by side with doctors as more treatment centres were opened. Volunteers, many motivated by nothing other than their love for their people, worked many hours on allowances that provided just enough for their travel and for a meal or two.
Our scientists, management and activists invested endless hours to ensure evidence-based solutions, and generated logistics and systems to ensure that we do not fail our people and that our people receive the messages of hope and are empowered to act in their own best interests. We must remember that the battles that we have just consolidated do not mean that the war is over. It has just begun.
I would also like to indicate that South Africa is not only facing the burden of HIV and Aids and TB. As we save our people from dying early from HIV and Aids and TB, we must remember that we also need to conscientise them that we have three more burdens that we need to tackle: maternal and child mortality, noncommunicable diseases like high blood pressure and cancer, as well as trauma and violence.
As our nation survives HIV and Aids, let us commit ourselves to surviving it and live healthily: to have less salt, fat and refined carbohydrates in our diet, and let us exercise at least 20 minutes three times a week. Let us limit the abuse of sex, the abuse of tobacco, the abuse of alcohol, the abuse of drugs, and let us also stop interpersonal violence, especially amongst young men, and let us also work together to reduce the scourge of the abuse of, and violence against, women and children.
As we look forward to the launch of the National Strategic Plan for HIV and Aids, STIs and TB for the period of 2012 to 2016, let us salute every South African who responded positively to the call: "I am taking responsibility, we are taking responsibility and South Africa is taking responsibility."
Through taking this responsibility individually and collectively, we indeed have ensured that the democracy that we fought for and many died for is not in vain. Through taking individual and collective responsibility, we can ensure that the goals of zero infection, zero transmission to children and zero deaths for South Africans are achievable in our lifetime. This is, indeed, South Africa at its best. If we remain committed, working together single-mindedly against these diseases and to promote health, we will certainly win the war.
I also want to take this opportunity to wish you and your families a safer, healthier and joyous festive season. I thank you. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.