The role of FBOs in sustaining the family unit as the centre of our society

To address the theme of restoring and preserving family wellbeing in the face of HIV and AIDS, the June session of the WCRP-HIVAN Religious Leaders’ and HIV/AIDS Researchers’ Forum Series was blessed with especially luminous guest speakers and panellists.

WCRP-HIVAN FORUM WORKSHOP – 11 August 2005 Gender Violence: Its impact on HIV/AIDS

The day’s workshop had been sponsored by the African Forum of Faith-based Organisations in Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS, an alliance formed to provide an effective mechanism for FBOs to increase their capacity as agents for change, to have a stronger voice at local, national and international levels, and to advocate for increased recognition of women’s and men’s rights to modern, safe, integrated and affordable sexual and reproductive health services.

Mortality and the ethics of qualitative rural research research in a context of HIV/AIDS

The seminar was based on a recently published article that used the story of one man suffering from AIDS to explore the ethical relationship between researchers and an interlocutor over a two-year period in Okhahlamba. Okhahlamba is a remote, rural Zulu-speaking region in South Africa’s Drakensberg. Drawing on the philosophical work of Emmanuel Levinas and Alphonso Lingus, the paper suggests the importance of not pre-empting too quick an understanding of illness and suffering, and of allowing space for the ill to set the pace and the content of the relationship between researchers and those with whom they work. Levinas’ insistence on solicitude and responsibility in the presence of the vulnerability of the Other is linked to the ways that researchers, in addition to being of practical assistance to an ill man, learnt through mutual interaction how to listen, how to remain silent, and how to suspend a particular approach when surprised by their interlocutor. The case study is placed within a context of widespread mourning and death.

The HIV/AIDS Challenge in Africa - HEARD OSSREA Workshop

Following an Introduction to the workshop proceedings by Gavin George from UKZN’s Health Economics and HIV/AIDS Research Division (HEARD), the welcome and opening addresses were delivered by Prof Alan Whiteside, Executive Director of HEARD, and Dr Alfred Nhema, Executive Secetrary of OSSREA, respectively.

WCRP/HIVAN Forum - Screening and Discussion of "What Can I Do?"

The film What Can I Do? – The HIV/AIDS Ministry and Messages of Gideon Byamugisha (2004) was launched in November 2005 at a HIVAN/WCRP Forum for faith communities and HIV/AIDS practitioners in Durban. The event was hosted in partnership with the Strategies For Hope project and the Durban Christian Centre’s Hope Centre Clinic.

Red Ribbons and Green Issues: Exploring HIV/AIDS As An Environmental Concern

The Geography Division of the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal hosted a seminar on 24 February 2006 on the impact of HIV and AIDS on the environment.

WCRP-HIVAN HIV/AIDS Dialogue - HIV/AIDS: Urban and Rural Realities

Introducing the first of four forum gatherings for 2006, Saydoon Nisa Sayed of the World Conference on Religion and Peace (WCRP) welcomed all present, and the magnitude of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, HIVAN and WCRP are entering their fourth year of these sessions.

HIVAN/ECI April 2006 Journal Club

“Experiences in paediatric ART (antiretroviral treatment) in KwaZulu-Natal? was the subject of discussion at the April 2006 Journal Club meeting at the UKZN School of Medicine. First Dr Holly France gave an overview of the paediatric ART programme running at Ridge House, the antiretroviral (ARV) clinic attached to McCord Hospital. This was followed by a presentation from Dr Gurpreet Kindra on the Structured Treatment Interruption study that was carried out at King Edward IV Hospital.

HIVAN/ECI May 2006 Journal Club

Prof Steve Reid from the Centre for Rural Health, UKZN, spoke on “Human Resources for Health in Underserved Areas? at the Journal Club held at the Nelson R Mandela Medical School on 12 May. This was an unusual presentation as it was not specifically focused on HIV and AIDS, but it dealt with human resources in the public sector which constrains the sector’s ability to deliver health services, including those related to HIV. “Why focus on human resources?? one might ask. Prof Reid stated that this issue was important for access to healthcare, quality of healthcare, equity in terms of the availability of health care to the population, and the impact or effectiveness of the care provided.

Successful income generation experiences: what works and what doesn’t - HIVAN/WCRP Capacity Building Workshop - June 2006

The Centre for HIV/AIDS Networking (HIVAN) and The World Conference on Religion and Peace (WCRP) held a capacity building workshop on 14 June 2006.