South Africa ushers in a new era in its HIV prevention response today, officially launching the game-changing Lenacapavir injectable in Mpumalanga. President Cyril Ramaphosa and the Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, will kick off the rollout at the Lilian Ngoyi Stadium in Secunda.

Making the HIV prevention medicine available to South Africans was one of the commitments the President made in the State of the Nation Address (SONA) in February.

Significant milestone

At the time, President Ramaphosa said: “In support of our programme to prevent and ultimately, eliminate HIV, we will be undertaking a massive rollout of Lenacapavir, a six-monthly injection that has proven highly effective in preventing transmission of HIV.”

In an advisory ahead of the launch of the drug, the Presidency said the groundbreaking initiative marks a significant milestone in South Africa’s ongoing efforts to fight against HIV/Aids and aims to enhance the prevention of new HIV infections.

“Lenacapavir is a twice-yearly long-acting injectable option for HIV prevention, and the rollout highlights the collaboration between the government, civil society, and private sector, and development partners amongst the stakeholders committed to ending HIV as a public health threat in South Africa,” it said.

The launch of the medicine comes a few days after the anniversary of the passing of the HIV/Aids activist Nkosi Johnson on 1 June. Johnson passed away at the age of 12 in 2001.

The launch is evidence that the country, which launched the world’s biggest HIV counselling, testing and treatment campaign in 2010, is making headway in the fight against the disease.

Major strides

Since the launch of the campaign, the Department of Health (DoH) in its 2026 Budget Vote said that the country has increased life expectancy to 66.9 years, by 2025 from a low of 54 years in 2010 and reduced maternal mortality to 89 deaths per 100,000 live births by 2020, from a high of 240 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2010.

According to Statistics South Africa’s (Stats SA) Mid-Year Population Estimates 2025, an estimated 8.15 million people in South Africa were living with HIV, accounting for approximately 12.9% of the total population. Among adults aged 15 to 49 — the most affected group — the HIV prevalence rate stood at an estimated 18.1%.

“Despite these numbers, South Africa has made progress in reducing deaths linked to HIV and Aids, thanks to expanded access to treatment and care,” Stats SA noted. The report stated that the country’s population stood at an estimated 63.1 million.

Most vulnerable

In his Budget Vote delivered last month, Motsoaledi said that stocks of the medicine were being delivered to depots and health facilities ahead of the launch. The government would start with 360 health facilities in “the high burden districts of the country.”

According to the Budget Vote, the government has prioritised adolescent girls and young women up to the age of 24 years, pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, female sex workers, men-having- sex-with-men, transgender people and injecting drug users in distributing the injectable.

This was the first batch of the 37,920 doses of the medicine, which is a new, long-acting antiretroviral drug - specifically an HIV-1 capsid inhibitor arrived in the country in early April 2026.

The South African National Aids Council (SANAC), which in April welcomed the arrival of the drug, this week said the launch signals a “new chapter in HIV prevention.”

The DoH has previously described the injectable as a preventive medicine, not a vaccine. The medicine has the potential to overcome many of the barriers South Africa has experienced with daily oral PrEP.

This as it offers greater discretion, convenience, and likely better adherence for users, especially for people who struggle with taking a pill every day or making frequent clinic visits.

HIV response

The launch also comes at a time when the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) is set to hold a High-Level Meeting on Aids from 22-23 June 2026 in New York.

According to the UNAids (Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/Aids), the meeting, which is held every five years since 2001, reinforces the role of the UN as the primary political mechanism for accountability and commitment in the global HIV response.

“This meeting will review progress against HIV since the 2021 High-Level Meeting and produce a new UN Political Declaration on HIV and Aids. UN Member States will negotiate the text of the 2026 Political Declaration and consider its adoption.”

South Africa is a Member State of the UN.

Ahead of the launch, UNAids South Africa in a post on social media platform X, said it is “excited” to join President Ramaphosa, the Department of Health, SANAC and other stakeholders for the launch of the drug.

The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) became the first African regulatory authority to approve Lenacapavir on 27 October 2025.

Eliminating HIV threat

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) Guidelines on Lenacapavir for HIV prevention, the organisation recommends offering the injectable as an additional HIV prevention choice.

Among the benefits of the drug is that it need not be discontinued during pregnancy and breastfeeding for HIV-negative women with a high likelihood of exposure to HIV, said the WHO.

Other work done by the government to fight HIV/Aids includes the February 2025 launch of the Close the Gap campaign in partnership with the WHO, UNAids and other stakeholders.

“The Close the Gap campaign is a focused, multi-pronged initiative aimed at accelerating South Africa’s response to the HIV epidemic by targeting high-burden districts, communities, and health facilities. The campaign pays special attention to underserved and vulnerable sub-populations, including men, youth, children, and key populations, to improve HIV-related outcomes and close existing service gaps,” SANAC said of the campaign.

The minister said the country is in a position “where we dare say we can eliminate HIV/Aids as a public health threat.”

“All we have to do is to work hard and work hard together as South Africans, motivated and bound together by a common destiny,” said the minister.

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