South African National Children's Forum on HIV/AIDS - Report

The National Children's Forum on HIV/AIDS was held in Cape Town in August 2001. Ninety HIV-affected children (between the ages of seven and 18 years) participated in the event, together with 18 of their caregivers and a number of representatives from national government and Parliament. The aim of the Forum was to provide these children with the opportunity to have their voices heard and for their experiences and recommendations to inform the drafting and implementation of relevant policies and legislation.

BESG Special Needs Housing Programme - a response to HIV/AIDS and vulnerability

In 2000, the Built Environment Support Group (BESG) based at the University's of Natal's Durban campus, together with the affiliates of the Urban Sector Network (USN) embarked on a USAID-funded programme to capacitate the sector around issues of HIV/AIDS and urban development. The programme became part of a broader process to formulate a comprehensive and integrative Special Needs housing programme for BESG.

Inkosi brings the gift of joy

The devastation of HIV/AIDS is most cruel in rural areas where limited resources, lack of education and unemployment wreak havoc with family stability. That is why buy-in by traditional leaders is vital in the fight against the disease.

Daring to bring hope - life at the AIDS coalface

Half of its patients die of AIDS, and 54% of pregnant women are HIV-infected. But in the absence of any national HIV/AIDS treatment plan, the tiny and embattled St Mary's Hospital has started its own projects to try to restore hope to its community.

NGOs, CBOs and business should focus on children

NGOs can help alert South Africa€™s corporate sector to the need for its partnership in community-based work for the support of children affected by HIV/AIDS. There will be an estimated one million AIDS orphans in South Africa by 2005.

"Imisebenzi yezandla 2" - the NSA Training Arts Programme

On show until the end of October at the NSA's Park Gallery is a showcase of the NSA's Training Arts Programme, which is divided into two components: a creative and therapeutic programme for children, and an intensive skills development programme for adults.

Rights and responsibilities - prisoners and HIV/AIDS

A Memorial Prayer Day for prisoners who have died of and are living with HIV/AIDS, hosted by the SA Prisoners' Organisation for Human Rights (SAPOHR), was held at the Westville Prison in October 2002. Executive Director of SAPOHR, Derrick Mdluli, described the event as an opportunity for those who care not only to commemorate the AIDS-related deaths of inmates, but also to pray for those infected and affected in their communities.

HIV/AIDS - the price our children pay

In recognition of 6 November being International Children's Day, we have republished, with kind permission, three items featured in the October/November 2002 edition of ChildrenFIRST Journal (Vol 6 No. 45), each with a specific focus on children and the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Caregivers not forgotten in HIV/AIDS trust planning

With tens of thousands of children infected or affected by HIV/AIDS, the strain on caregivers is enormous. The Orphans of AIDS Trust Fund, which was initiated by Independent Newspapers, aims to assist organisations looking after the children - but the caregivers also need help.

Hospice model for integrated community-based home care

The report "Integrated Community-based Home Care (ICHC) in South Africa: A review of the model implemented by the Hospice Association of South Africa", compiled by The Centre for AIDS Development, Research and Evaluation (CADRE) on behalf of The POLICY Project, has been released.