More than 55,000 people had started lenacapavir, the twice-yearly injectable HIV prevention shot, by September 7, and 71% of them are women, according to Department of Health data published by IOL on September 12. The national rollout began on June 5, when President Cyril Ramaphosa and Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi launched the PrEP option.
The Western Cape recorded 4,446 initiations in the same period, the same department figures show. In Gugulethu, Business Day reported from Vuyani Clinic that 25-year-old municipal worker Mqatazana received her first dose after confirming her pregnancy.
“There’s a lot of guys who won’t tell you they are HIV positive. So I have to protect myself,” Mqatazana told Business Day at Vuyani Clinic in Gugulethu.
Bhekisisa’s early rollout analysis, presented at the AIDS 2026 conference between July 30 and August 2, found 72% of users were women. The health department described the uptake as evidence of “strong demand” for a long-acting prevention option.
Motsoaledi told Bhekisisa that nurses see women during antenatal and child vaccination visits, while the MomConnect app provides a direct channel to six million users. He said that contact makes it easier to explain the benefits of lenacapavir.
“Nurses are therefore in direct contact with them and can explain the benefits of LEN. We can also easily reach pregnant women and new mothers through the health department’s MomConnect app, which has six million users,” Motsoaledi said.
Pregnant and breastfeeding women make up just over a quarter of users, Bhekisisa reported, though the department has not released a precise figure. The rollout prioritised adolescent girls, young women, and pregnant or breastfeeding mothers because women and girls accounted for 59% of new HIV infections in 2024.
Adolescent girls and young women aged 15 to 24 accounted for more than 71,000 of those infections. The injection is given as two subcutaneous shots every six months, offering an alternative to daily oral PrEP pills that can cause nausea, headaches, or be forgotten.
Nationally, the medicine is available at 360 public health facilities across 24 districts in six provinces. Gauteng recorded 26,357 initiations and KwaZulu-Natal 11,941, while the Western Cape’s 4,446 figure remains a small share of the total.
The female skew also exposes a known service gap: men visit clinics less often, making them harder to reach with HIV prevention. Business Day reported that rollout allocations for higher-risk groups have been difficult to implement in practice, though the department has not confirmed supply constraints.
CapeFlats News reviewed the Department of Health’s national totals but has not independently verified the Vuyani Clinic interaction reported by Business Day. What remains unclear is the precise number of pregnant and breastfeeding women started on lenacapavir, and the Western Cape health department has not released facility-level data for Cape Town clinics.
CapeFlats News will check with the Western Cape Department of Health for a Vuyani Clinic update next week.