South Africa ramps up its response to HIV and AIDS

In a move that United Nations officials say is the biggest and fastest expansion of AIDS services ever attempted, South Africa is opening up a new front in its response to HIV. In the past month, some 500 hospitals and clinics have begun dispensing antiretroviral drugs, and the government has trained hundreds of nurses to prescribe the drugs, work that was formerly the domain of doctors, the New York Times reported yesterday. The plan is to train enough nurses so that all of South Africa’s 4,333 health clinics will be able to dispense antiretroviral medicines.

South Africa is home to an estimated 5.7 million HIV-positive people, the largest number in the world. More than half of South Africans living with HIV are women, and 20 percent of pregnant women accessing public health services in 2008 tested positive for HIV. South Africa also has a high rate of sexual and domestic violence toward women, which increases women’s vulnerability to HIV infection.

Since 1998, EngenderHealth has worked in South Africa to transform men’s attitudes and behaviors to reduce gender-based violence and HIV infection rates. We have also introduced innovative approaches for improving men’s access to HIV counseling and testing and care and treatment services. We applaud South Africa’s increased efforts to respond to HIV and the campaign that was kicked off on Sunday to test 15 million of the country’s 49 million citizens for the virus by next June. We also know from our experiences in places where doctors are scarce that properly trained nurses and midwives can offer high-quality health care.

Read more about EngenderHealth’s work to train nonphysicians to perform male circumcision in Kenya.

New Series of HIV and AIDS Program Briefs

This World AIDS Day, EngenderHealth announces a new series of HIV and AIDS program briefs highlighting promising practices and lessons learned from our work. The briefs explore hallmarks of our programs, including strengthening health systems, developing human resources, engaging communities, and advocating for supportive policies. In nine countries, EngenderHealth partners with local clinics and community-based organizations to provide comprehensive HIV and AIDS prevention, care, and treatment services.

The first in the series is a set of five briefs on the AIDS, Population, and Health Integrated Assistance (APHIA II) Nyanza Project, which is based in Nyanza, Kenya. APHIA II is a holistic project to improve and expand HIV prevention, treatment, care, and support services, along with integrated reproductive health, maternal health, family planning, malaria, tuberculosis, and child health services.

The briefs in this series are:

• Implementation Strategy of the APHIA II Nyanza Project (PDF, 416KB)
  
• Improving Health Facility–Based Services in Nyanza Province, Kenya: The APHIA II Nyanza Project (PDF, 372KB)
• Implementing a Community Strategy within the APHIA II Nyanza Project (PDF, 328KB)
• Community-Based Care and Support within the APHIA II Nyanza Project (PDF, 380KB)
• Strengthening the Kenya Health Management Information System (HMIS) for Monitoring and Evaluation of the APHIA II Nyanza Project (PDF, 372KB)

APHIA II Nyanza is supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development and is managed by EngenderHealth, in collaboration with Kenya’s Ministry of Health. Other partners include: the Academy for Educational Development (AED), the Christian Health Association of Kenya, Inter Diocesan Christian Community Services, and PATH.

For more information about the APHIA II Nyanza Project and EngenderHealth’s HIV and AIDS programs, please visit www.engenderhealth.org/aphia or contact Sharone Beatty at: sbeatty@engenderhealth.org.

World AIDS Day Community Statement

EngenderHealth is among the organizations signing the World AIDS Day Community Statement, which recognizes the advances that have been made in the response to HIV and AIDS, as well as the challenges ahead. Download the full statement. (PDF, 3.0mb)

First Lady of Tanzania Visits EngenderHealth-Supported Clinic

In November 2009, the First Lady of Tanzania, Mama Salma Kikwete, visited Madaba Health Centre, a facility in the Ruvuma Region in southwestern Tanzania that is supported by EngenderHealth and that serves 50,000 people. The First Lady was there as part of a national campaign to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality, and she spoke about the importance of avoiding early pregnancy, improving maternal health care, and openly discussing HIV and preventing its spread.

EngenderHealth, through a U.S. Agency for International Development–supported ACQUIRE Project Associate Award, is helping to equip facilities in the Ruvuma Region with obstetric wards and is improving the quality and use of family planning services by training health care staff, strengthening supervisors’ skills, and raising awareness in communities. Over the past year, more than 400 clients received long-acting or permanent methods of contraception at Madaba, and nearly 9,000 clients received these methods in the region overall. EngenderHealth, through funding from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), also trains health care professionals to provide counseling and testing for HIV and AIDS, other reproductive health services, and life-skills coaching to youth.

Last year, EngenderHealth assisted 38 facilities throughout Tanzania in improving the quality of their maternal health and family planning services.

Learn more about EngenderHealth’s work in Tanzania.

Voice of America Highlights EngenderHealth's Men As Partners® Program

Voice of America, a international radio and television broadcasting service funded by the U.S. Government, profiled EngenderHealth's Men As Partners® program in a broadcast titled “South African Men’s Groups Fight to End Violence, Discrimination Against Women.” You can download an MP3 of the radio broadcast, or read it online.

“This month, women's rights advocates are calling on men and women to join together to fight gender discrimination. They're meeting in New York for the 53^rd session of the Committee on the Status of Women [March 2 – 13]. And in South Africa, two NGO's are reaching out to men to help end violence against women. They're also looking at ways to help reduce some of burdens borne by women, like providing almost all of the care for those with HIV/AIDS. From Washington, William Eagle reports.

“Johannesburg community activist Dumisani Rebombo says one out of six men in South Africa commit physical violence against women. Research by Witswatersrand University showed almost one third of sexually experienced women report their first encounter was not consensual.

“Rebombo is an organizer with the Men as Partners outreach group, part of the NGO EngenderHealth.”

Get the rest on Voice of America's web site.

Dumisani has previously appeared on Voice of America's "Healthy Living" television show. You can also hear his story, in his own words, on his digital story on YouTube, along with dozens of other men in our Men As Partners programs around the world.