Pretoria, Nov 30 (IANS): South Africans will be encouraged to know their HIV status on the World Aids Day by getting tested and to follow the 'ABC' principles of abstaining, being faithful and condomising.

Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe will lead the World Aids Day commemoration event Sunday in Emahhashini, Piet Retief in Mpumalanga, reports government news agency SA News.

The government hopes to move to the next phase of conquering Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) by achieving zero infections, discrimination and AIDS-related deaths.

This year’s the event will be observed under the theme: "Get Wise, Get Tested, Get Circumcised".

The World Aids Day is held every year so that people worldwide can get united in the fight against HIV, to show their support for people living with HIV and to reflect back on the strides taken in the multi-sectoral HIV, Aids response.

Currently, South Africa has one of the largest HIV and AIDS treatment programmes with 2.4 million people under treatment.

Through these programmes, the country has seen huge gains including continuous reductions in the rate of HIV transmission from mother-to-child and the successful counselling and testing of 20 million people from HIV.