Billboards help to break AIDS silence

Durban-based Artists for Human Rights (AHR) won an international award in Geneva, Switzerland in August 2001 for its contribution to the de-stigmatisation of HIV/AIDS. The AHR won in the category "HIV/AIDS Media" for its "Break the Silence" Billboard Campaign.

Children First

Children First is a non-governmental organisation registered as a Section 21 (not for gain) company and based in KwaZulu-Natal. It exists to promote and protect the rights and wellbeing of children, and is committed to presenting African perspectives on the situation of children in South Africa and Africa.

Mobilising men to care

Violence, gender inequality, and high rates of HIV transmission are three major problems at all levels of South African education. Gender inequalities play out in a variety of different types of violence: girls are raped by boys and boys are the main perpetrators of sexual assault but boys can also be the victims of assault by other boys. Yet, many interventions reflect the perception that boys are perpetrators and girls are the victims. How can the gap between rhetoric and practice in addressing boys'and girls' vulnerability be addressed?

The Treatment Action Campaign forms a UND branch

An assembly of interested students and staff at the University of Natal's Durban campus was addressed by Mark Heywood, founder member of TAC (Treatment Action Campaign) and head of the AIDS Law Project, in March 2002. The forum was organised by UND's newly established Centre for Civil Society as a preparatory meeting focused on forging closer ties between TAC and the University community.

POPWHA - Parents of people with HIV/AIDS

What do you do when your child tells you he or she is HIV-positive? Tell no-one? Limp along in the vain hope that this world of half-life and half-death will miraculously fade away? Soweto businesswoman Sibongile Mazibuko knows the feeling well. She will tell you that it was 4.05 p.m. on a Friday 10 years ago that her son, Lucky, disclosed his HIV status to her. "I swallowed hard. I stood up. I sat down," she recalls. "I told him not to say such things because it wasn't true. But, of course, it was. Why would he tell me otherwise?"

Another mother's milk saves AIDS babies

A unique nutritional scheme used in the inauspicious Durban home of five AIDS orphans could potentially save hundreds of babies' lives every month. Begun six months ago by Anna Coutsoudis, an associate professor of Paediatrics and Child Health at UND, the Ithembalethu Breastmilk Bank is now attracting widespread interest.

HIV/AIDS Financing

There is a complex array of mechanisms through which resources destinedfor HIV/AIDS flow to provincial health departments, the key site ofdelivery of a number of HIV/AIDS prevention and care services. Much of this complexity has emerged in the last two years, as the national Department of Health (DoH) sought to establish alternative, perhaps more cost-effective modes of prevention, care and treatment at provincial level.

HIV/AIDS crisis demands reproductive health care in Africa

The HIV/AIDS pandemic has spurred significant advances in reproductive health policies across Africa, however, governments do not allocate sufficient legal and financial resources to ensure that the policies are effective, according to a report launched today by advocates from seven African countries: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, and the U.S.-based Center for Reproductive Law and Policy (CRLP). The report is based on two years of collaborative research and analysis of laws and policies related to women's reproductive lives.

Barcelona AIDS2002 and the NGO voice

Previous international AIDS gatherings have tended to be "scientific showcases", but community-based organisations and children's NGOs are hoping for a higher profile at the 14th International Conference on AIDS to be held in Barcelona, Spain, next week. "In the past, we felt that the community arm of the programme in international conferences had been tacked on as an afterthought, but this year looks to be different," Debbie Matthews, programme manager for the AIDS Foundation of South Africa, told PlusNews on Monday.

Risks and opportunities in Budget 2002 HIV/AIDS funding approach

The most significant development in Budget 2002 is that national government is increasing its reliance on provinces to direct and implement programmes and allocate funds for HIV/AIDS as they choose. National government is banking on the idea that provincial underspending - plaguing HIV/AIDS conditional grants up to now - will decrease if provinces are given more room and discretion with funds provided by national government. This is a gamble worth taking. To reduce the risk, Budget 2002 simultaneously addresses the problem of lack of provincial capacity by earmarking funds to strengthen provincial management.