German Development Cooperation supports Government initiative for HIV/AIDS-testing
GTZ, DED, InWEnt and KfW jointly celebrated the World AIDS Day in South Africa.
“HIV&AIDS is no longer a death sentence and people with HIV still have dreams and aspirations. Through your support and encouragement, those dreams can be achieved”. Mandy Mthethwa, the Community Development Programme manager from the Mpumalanga local government, has been living with the disease for more than five years. She addressed the participants at an event jointly organised by the South African offices of GTZ, DED, Inwent and KfW to celebrate World AIDS Day; the event took place at Springbok Park in Pretoria. GTZ, DED and Inwent had signed an HIV/AIDS workplace policy agreement during last year’s celebrations; this year KfW joined the three organisations in addressing HIV/AIDS in the work environment.
Drama for Life performing for the participants of the World AIDS Day celebration at Springbok Park, Pretoria
The workplace policy agreement creates a platform and a support system for staff members who want more information on how to protect themselve and/or are affected by the disease or have tested positive. An estimated 5.7 million people in South Africa are living with HIV/AIDS, with an unchanged prevalence rate of 18.1 percent. Women of the age group 25-29 are still being the worst affected with prevalence rates of up to 40 percent. However, recently South Africa is seeing some positive trends in the epidemic. Data suggest that the national HIV prevalence has levelled off in most populations over the last 3 to 5 years. To combat the disease, the government of South Africa has announced the “dawn of a new era” in South Africa’s response to HIV/AIDS. Responsibility, accountability and action are key to the process.
This year, South Africa commemorated World AIDS Day under the theme “I am responsible, we are responsible, South Africa is taking responsibility”. The slogan embraces the country’s collective effort and responsibility in the response to HIV and AIDS, which is to stop new HIV infections, provide care, treatment and support to those living with the virus. It further launched a number of policy changes that will see expanded treatment for HIV-positive children and pregnant women, and for people co-infected with tuberculosis. There will also be efforts to intensify educational programmes about the disease - particularly in rural areas where clinics and recourses are insufficient.
The Directors of GTZ, DED, InWEnt and KfW in South Africa together with Stefan Ohme from the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation Development (BMZ), welcomed the participants and renewed their commitment to respond to HIV and AIDS in their organisations. They encouraged the participants to take responsibility for their own future and know their status. Free voluntary wellness testing including testing for HIV/AIDS was offered to all staff members and their spouses and was well received. Ahead of the event a knowledge, attitude, perception and behaviour survey had been conducted among the employees of the four organisations to assess their awareness and knowledge about the disease. The findings indicate that knowledge levels on HIV/AIDS are already fairly high among staff, with few areas left to be improved. An encouraging 93.3 percent of the participating staff knew their HIV/AIDS status and would go for counselling if tested HIV-positive. Employees feel that the four organisations are already doing a lot in addressing HIV/AIDS in the workplace. However, they would appreciate it if even more awareness were created and information and links to service providers provided, in particular with regard to counselling. Furthermore, they would like GTZ, DED, InWEnt and KfW to reinforce ongoing work on an environment where there is no discrimination to people with HIV and AIDS.
‘Drama for Life’s ‘Playback’ theatre performance was another highlight, with the actors involving the audience. They encouraged the participants to speak about their personal experiences with the disease and then immediately illustrated these stories. Drama for Life uses participatory and experiential drama to address social issues with an emphasis on HIV and AIDS. It is facilitated and supported by GTZ and DED.
