The most important document guiding government’s response to HIV in South Africa is the National Strategic Plan for HIV, AIDS and STIs (the ‘NSP’). This document is South Africa's ‘HIV Constitution’, defining national objectives and commitments on HIV treatment and prevention.
The current NSP (2007 – 2011) will expire at the end of this year. Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has been co-ordinating an advocacy project to ensure that crucial objectives, including the expansion of antiretroviral therapy to all people who need treatment, and the decentralisation and integration of TB/HIV services to community level, will be included in the next NSP.
Here is MSF's formal submission to the South African National AIDS Council on Draft Zero of the NSP. The objectives included here are being presented by MSF advocacy staff to civil society partners at a public consultation in Pretoria from 5 - 7 September 2011.
