“Gauteng is one of the provinces worst affected by the HIV epidemic,” said Manana, “we are committed to reducing the spread of HIV, and programmes like First Things First are an important component of our efforts.”

“Our data shows that a holistic approach to HIV prevention is much more effective than simply addressing individual factors,” said Ahluwalia, “A recent impact study of the FTF programme, published by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), has shown that the integration of general health services with HIV testing has significantly strengthened the relevance of the entire programme.”

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