健康英语新闻:HIV test campaign gets boost in South Africa's Western Cape province

CAPE TOWN, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- More people voluntarily get HIV tests in the Western Cape province, an indication of people's rising awareness of the epidemic, authorities said on Thursday.

Nearly 11,000 people in the province have been tested over the past 10 days as authorities stepped efforts to halve the number of HIV transmissions over the next few years, according to official figures.

Authorities expect more people to be tested when the monthly campaign ends by the end of December.

In December last year, 67,111 people were tested.

This year's figure is expected to be higher than that of last year, said Western Cape Premier Helen Zille.

The campaign, known as Know Your Status and Win, may become a regular feature in the province, said Zille.

To encourage more people to take part in the campaign, the province offers awards to several winners by drawing, ranging from 10,000 rand (about 1,250 U. S. dollars) to 50,000 rand (about 6, 250 dollars).

"The bottom line is that people respond to incentives," said Zille, who hailed the campaign a success.

She said the reality was that those who stubbornly did not want to get tested, were those crucially in need of doing so.

While the data still had to be audited, preliminary results indicated a spike in the number of people who were tested.

There was also a significant increase at routine testing center that were not part of the campaign, said Zille. Of 22.9 million HIV positive people in sub-Saharan Africa, 5.6 million in South Africa, according to an annual report by UNAIDS.