​Tshiamo Diale
Deputy President and Chairperson of the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC), Paul Mashatile, officially opened the 12th South African AIDS Conference in Kempton Park on Monday, 8 September 2025. 
Premier Panyaza Lesufi, MEC for Health Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko, Executive Mayor of Ekurhuleni Nkosindiphile Xhakaza, various government officials and stakeholders convened under the theme: "Unite for change – empower communities and redefine priorities for HIV/AIDS."
Various sector leaders spoke on the work that has been done in addressing the impact of HIV and AIDS and the effects of funding cuts on treatment and prevention. 
In his keynote address, Deputy President Paul Mashatile emphasised that this conference should serve as a platform to unite communities, leaders, researchers, implementing partners, and academics in tackling the evolving nature of HIV care and prevention.
Additionally, he highlighted measures that should be implemented to empower communities. 
These include allocating resources to those who are most affected, moving away from a top-down clinic-centered approach towards a more inclusive community-driven initiative, which ultimately involves extensive community participation. 
Another measure, he added, is taking full advantage of the National Strategic Plan 2023-2028, which emphasises enhancing prevention and treatment efforts, improving health systems, and focusing on evidence-based and data-driven strategies.
"The call for education, destigmatisation and a culture of understanding and support should form part of our efforts in reaching a target of 95 /95 /95, which translates to 95% of all people living with HIV know their status. 95% of those who know their status are on treatment and 95% of those on treatment have achieved viral suppression."
Mashatile said a lot has been done to meet this target.  About 96% of people living with HIV know their status. Approximately 78% of individuals who know their status and are on treatment, and 97% of those on treatment, have achieved viral suppression. 
These statistics prompted the government to launch Close the Gab campaign in February 2025 at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in Soweto, which aims to allocate treatment to 1.1 million individuals living with HIV who were previously not on treatment.
Mashatile concluded his address and spoke about the key objectives of the South African HIV Prevention Roadmap 2025-2028. 
These include prioritising communities severely affected by HIV, identifying programme gaps and taking remedial action to scale prevention, ensuring data-driven strategies are aligned with the National Strategic Plan for HIV, TB, and STI, and addressing social, structural, and legal barriers to HIV prevention.