President Jacob Zuma and some of his Cabinet members will undergo public HIV testing as part of a new campaign aiming to screen roughly one-third of South Africans, 15 million people, for the virus.

The initiative launches April 15 in Gauteng. The testing drive is a key component of a plan to boost HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment in South Africa, which has the world's largest caseload with some 5.3 million infections. By 2011, the goal is to halve the number of new infections and increase antiretroviral treatment to 80 percent of those in need.

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said the hope is that testing 15 million people will curb new infections, since most people who know they have the virus take steps to prevent transmission to partners. Infected people will also be encouraged to seek treatment before they become critically ill.

Life expectancy in the country has declined from 60 years in 1994 to under 50 today, said Motsoaledi. "Our main driver of low life expectancy and unhealthy life in South Africa is, among others, the HIV and AIDS epidemic," he noted.

The minister is calling on all of South Africa's health care professionals to help with the campaign. He has written to retired providers, asking them to volunteer their services, as well as to nursing colleges and medical schools, requesting that final-year students help with the effort. The military health services will also be involved.

"This is a big battle for everybody in the country," said Motsoaledi. "We are going to let nobody off the hook. If you look at the number of 15 million which you must reach by June next year, you need every available resource in the country."