LINKING HIV/AIDS RESEARCH AND PRACTICE
The Centre for HIV and AIDS Networking (HIVAN) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal was established in 2001 with generous start-up funding from The Atlantic Philanthropies and the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Mission
HIVAN?s primary purpose is to promote, conduct, and build capacity for research that is responsive to, and contributes to alleviating the circumstances of, people living with and affected by HIV and AIDS. By connecting multidisciplinary scholarship with the immediate needs and problems of health-care providers, civil society organisations, and communities, and by making relevant information accessible to them, HIVAN strives to enhance the quality of HIV and AIDS prevention, care and treatment in both the formal and informal public health systems.
While its priority is to inform practical efforts to address the epidemic in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, HIVAN does not exclude activities elsewhere and always endeavours to ensure that the outcomes of its work are widely applicable.
Goals
The central goals of HIVAN are to:
- Facilitate and conduct applied research in partnership with communities, civil society organisations, and public health-care facilities;
- Connect researchers and practitioners in KwaZulu-Natal with counterparts elsewhere;
- Train and mentor a new generation of biomedical, social and behavioural scientists;
- Build capacity among practitioners in the public and civil society sectors to engage in applied research;
- Initiate, conduct, and constructively assess grassroots-level HIV and AIDS intervention programmes in partnership with local communities;
- Promote dialogue, better understanding and collaboration between researchers and practitioners; and
- Disseminate practical information about the pandemic across the various sectors of society.
Leadership
To facilitate a multidisciplinary approach, HIVAN?s research agenda is led by Professor Hoosen (Jerry) Coovadia (Biomedical Sciences) and Professor Eleanor Preston-Whyte (Social and Behavioural Sciences). HIVAN?s management board is chaired by Professor Ahmed Bawa, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Knowledge Production).
Some Current Programmes
HIVAN is engaged in a wide range of research, training, intervention and support programmes. For example:
- Sondela (meaning ?coming closer?) is a community newsletter that disseminates useful information and stories about positive responses to the pandemic to communities throughout and beyond KwaZulu-Natal.
- HIVAN?s website is a richly-stocked electronic networking tool that showcases groundbreaking personalities, projects and resources committed to mitigating the impact of HIV and AIDS. It includes a globally accessible on-line database of 3 500 organisations involved in HIV-related services and other initiatives. Details on these services are accessible telephonically through the HIV911 helpline: Call 0860 HIV (448) 911 .
- The Community Responses to HIV and AIDS Programme seeks to identify means of strengthening civil society responses to the pandemic through work in partnership with several urban and rural communities in KwaZulu-Natal.
- The Participatory Alliance for Care and Treatment (PACT) is an initiative with McCord Hospital that partners health-care workers with applied social scientists in an attempt to improve HIV and AIDS care and treatment regimes.
- HIVAN operates the highly acclaimed Cultural Arts Programme and has successfully conducted a series of projects on Therapeutic Art for Children .
- The Leaders of Tomorrow Project is a capacity-building programme for orphans in the rural, mountainous region of Okhahlamba in KwaZulu-Natal.
- The Isisombululo Project is being conducted in partnership with the Western Cape Department of Health and the University of Cape Town and aims to develop a model for holistic HIV and AIDS prevention, care and treatment through applied work in the Eden District (which extends from Mossel Bay through Knysna and George to Plettenberg Bay).
HIVAN Resources
In line with its objectives, HIVAN produces a number of resources, geared to assist those involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Through the production and dissemination of useful resources, HIVAN provides the means to build capacity and empower those in need. All booklets are available for download from the HIVAN website and hard copies can be purchased from HIVAN.
Sondela
HIVAN produces a dual-language (isiZulu and English) community newsletter called Sondela (lit. ?Coming Closer?)that disseminates information to, and furthers networking among, communities with limited access to electronic and print media. It is distributed widely throughout and beyond KwaZulu-Natal. Readers amongst grassroots organisations continually provide positive feedback on the newsletter and now voluntarily contribute stories, articles and other information for publication. The exposure afforded by the newsletter to local-level organisations and individual champions within communities has frequently reaped direct benefits for them. Sondela content regularly features details of campaign resources and contacts, community champions and other personal stories, a column hosting contributions from children and youth, expert advice on both allopathic and complementary treatment options, a photo-gallery of scenes from KZN-based gatherings and initiatives, and a yearly insert of a specially designed calendar promoting an appropriately inspiring theme. Sondela is currently produced twice per annum.
Community Booklets
As part of its commitment to engaging in research that is useful to the broader community, HIVAN has introduced a series of community resource booklets based on its research and intervention activities, entitled:
- Supporting Youth: Broadening the Approach to HIV/AIDS Prevention Programmes.
- Understanding and Challenging HIV/AIDS Stigma
- Babiza?s Story
HIVAN/KZNCAN KwaZulu-Natal HIV/AIDS Directory
HIVAN has worked with the KwaZulu-Natal Christian Council and their Church AIDS Network to produce two directories of HIV-related services in the province. This information was drawn from HIVAN?s national service delivery database, AIDSDATA, which boasts 3 500 organisations working in HIV and related fields throughout South Africa. The hard copy directory is used widely by the health sector in the province and is available from HIVAN at a cost of R10 per copy. This information is also available on HIVAN?s website and through HIVAN?s telephonic helpline, HIV-911 (dial 0860 448 911).
HIVAN Networking Fora
Caring for the needs of others affected and infected by HIV/AIDS is difficult and demanding both physically and emotionally. The HIV-related environment is also constantly changing ? as new treatments become available and more is known about the virus and its social, medical and economic consequences. It is therefore important for those persons working in this area to find means to remain informed and educated about the disease. Acknowledging that it is difficult to sustain this work and increase one?s knowledge without support, HIVAN has committed to ensuring that AIDS Service Organisations have regular, free access to HIV-related briefing sessions and capacity building.
More specifically, HIVAN offers a range of regular networking and information sharing forums in HIV-related subjects. HIVAN?s staff are dedicated to facilitating contact, communication and collaboration within and across the higher education, public, private, faith-based, non-government, and community-based sectors. These fora are attended by community workers, volunteers and representatives from NGOs, FBOs, CBOs and government. Over the past four years HIVAN?s forums have been used as a mechanism to overcome the silence that often encompasses HIV and AIDS by building knowledge and encouraging open and honest communication between individuals and communities. The forums provide valuable opportunities for sharing of HIV-related information and the discussions that follow often allow for new insights into common problems, joint problem solving and awareness-raising. They create a context for people and organisations to network and build contacts outside of the usual networks, raise knowledge levels and expose people to relevant and timely issues surrounding HIV and AIDS and creates dialogue between groups that don?t normally come in contact with each other.
Networking forums include:
- The KZN AIDS Forum
- Faith-Based Leaders and HIV/AIDS Researchers Forum
- Youth Fora
- Capacity-building Workshops
- Contentious Issues Panel Discussions
- The HIVAN North and South Coast Communities Fora
- The Public Health HIV/AIDS Journal Club
AIDSDATA ? the HIVAN Database
HIVAN?s database, AIDSDATA, has been specifically developed to help organisations to network with others providing similar or complementary services and help individuals and organisations locate effective HIV-related services in their area. The AIDSDATA database features approximately 3 500 organisations involved in HIV-related initiatives throughout South Africa. It covers all sectors of society and includes information on private, public, non-governmental, community and faith-based sectors. This database can be accessed online via the HIVAN website: hivan.org.za
AIDSDATA is user-friendly, widely searchable and provides detailed information on the nature of services provided by each of the organisations listed. Information on services is constantly updated and new organisations and features are added regularly to ensure the database keeps pace with the dynamic HIV sector and advances in technology. The database boasts a comprehensive set of information on each organisation. This information includes: a brief description and full contact details for the organisation; detailed information on the services offered to the public; and the geographical area that the organisation serves.
HIV-911 Helpline
It is a sad reality that many people who are infected or affected by HIV and AIDS have limited access to information on where to seek advice and care. There is no easily accessible central facility through which South Africans can confidently access information on HIV and AIDS related services and organisations working in this field. Issues of stigma and confidentiality exacerbate this situation. The aim of the HIV-911 help-line is to both enable and increase the efficiency with which people are linked to reliable HIV-related services within South Africa.
HIV-911 provides callers with information about HIV service providers that can best meet their specific need for assistance . Key to this is ensuring that these service providers are located within reasonable reach of the caller. Caller confidentiality is honoured and calls are subsidised (caller pays only the local costs of the call) to increase access to the Help-line services. In addition, many organisations working in the field of HIV and AIDS would greatly benefit from networking and partnering with other like minded organisations but have limited access to information about other service providers. HIV-911 facilitates networking and fosters greater collegiality between AIDS service organisations, mitigating duplication of effort and encouraging effective use of donor funds.
HIV-911 fills a much-needed gap in the current telephonic support services around HIV and AIDS in South Africa. As a result, HIV-911 enjoys a strong partnership with the National HIV/AIDS Helpline which has begun to actively refer their callers to the HIV-911 service for service related information. In turn, callers to HIV-911 who require additional counselling support are referred to Life-Line Crisis Centres throughout South Africa or to the National HIV/AIDS Help-line. A similar relationship exists with Love Life?s Thetha-Junction and Parent lines.
Callers dial a ShareCall number, 0860 HIV 911 (0860 448 911) to access the help-line services. Confidentiality of callers is assured, enabling them to locate information on HIV and AIDS-related services in their area with confidence. It should be noted that HIV-911 enjoys a good working relationship with the National AIDS Helpline. They refer callers seeking information on services to HIV-911 and we refer callers needing counselling to them. Funding is actively being sought to capacitate the call-centre.
HIVAN is responsible for both directing and planning for this initiative. The call centre is located in Durban at the HIVAN Offices, University of KwaZulu-Natal. While the database and some staffing are in place, further investment is needed to expand the help-line services. Due to budgetary limitations, the services are currently not being actively marketed beyond the Durban and Cape Town Metropolitan areas. Should this funding be received, the HIV911 helpline will be marketed throughout South Africa.
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University of KwaZulu-Natal - Section 14 Manual in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000