South Africans need to wake up to the realities of this epidemic.

This paper presents an interview with South Africa s chief of the HIV/AIDS directorate in the national department of health Dr. Nono Simelela. There are four subdirectorates. The first subdirectorate--care and support--which involves the development of guidelines for adult care pediatric care home-based care and palliative care. The second subdirectorate--counseling--involves extensive consultation with the relevant professional bodies. The third subdirectorate--medical interventions and barrier methods--focuses on several aspects. The fourth subdirectorate--partnership support--supports any sector and assists in the development of workplace programs advocating training and capacity building. Other topics discussed during the interview were the current program for the youth endorsing a recommendation to channel more resources to interventions. Lastly Dr. Simelela talked a little about her personal background and ended the interview with a message to encourage South Africans to dig deeper into the realities of the epidemic and act before it is too late.