Social Issues

This is the first review conducted in South Africa on research addressing the implementation of the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act. A systematic and detailed methodology was undertaken to identify published and on-going research. Of the 86 identified studies, 41 were reviewed, 13 were forthcoming studies, three were published but unavailable, 6 focused on the process of advocacy reform and 23 were excluded as they did not meet the inclusion criteria. A framework developed for the review looked service and community factors affecting access of potential and current abortion service users.

An international coalition of HIV/AIDS organizations and individual advocates are sponsoring a four-day global summit on treatment preparedness in March 2003 in Cape Town, South Africa. Treatment preparedness is a term used to describe HIV/AIDS treatment education and advocacy efforts that are designed to increase access to and demand for HIV/AIDS treatment and prepare communities for safe and effective use of HIV therapies. We are using the trm HIV/AIDS treatment to encompass a broad range of treatment and care interventions, including, but not limited to, treatment of opportunIstic infections and sexually transmitted infections, palliative care, and antiretroviral therapy. The International HIV/AIDS Treatment Education and Advocacy Summit will be a relatively small gathering of approximately 125 people. The primary goal of the meeting is to create a framework for the development, maintenance and enhancement of local and regional treatment preparedness efforts around the world. To learn more about the International HIV/AIDS Treatment Education and Advocacy Summit, please contact:treatmentpreparedness2003@yahoo.com

In the Mount Frere Health District, the District Management Team (DMT) has made considerable improvements in the control and monitoring of vehicles. However, despite this, there is a common cry from programme managers, clinic supervisors, doctors and administrative staff that there is a shortage of transport for them to carry out their functions adequately. Because transport is so critical to so many functions, it is not surprising that there is a relative lack of transport, compared to needs. It is therefore important that districts make sure that they use their limited transport resources efficiently and effectively.

This guide attempts to assist health workers to find and use electronic health information resources, and describes some of the services offered by HealthLink.

This study focuses on a district in an urban area in the Western Cape, district that already renders the scope of services outlined in the Core Package. An assessment of the cost of rendering PHC services is thus carried out from an actual, by opposition to a theoretical, basis.