Social Issues

UNAIDS’ Update highlights key elements of the AIDS response in a number of African countries. South Africa, for example, is rapidly scaling up access to HIV treatment, with a 20% increase in the number of people receiving therapy from 2011-2012 alone. Sixteen countries—Botswana, Ghana, Gambia, Gabon, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, São Tomé and Principe, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe—now ensure that more than three-quarters of pregnant women living with HIV receive antiretroviral medicine to prevent transmission to their child. 

Timely linkage to care and treatment by HIV-positive individuals can lead to significant decreases in morbidity and mortality as well as increases in life expectancy and quality of life. Further, there are significant prevention benefits as early initiation on antiretroviral treatment (ART) can significantly reduce HIV transmission to uninfected partners. Modeling exercises also suggest that universal HIV testing coupled with immediate treatment could decrease HIV incidence and virtually eliminate the HIV/AIDS pandemic. To achieve this, the rate of linkage to care must be 100%. This underscores the importance of understanding and addressing barriers to linkage.

Health Systems Trust is a dynamic, not-for-profit organisation that supports the development of an equitable and comprehensive health system for the provision of quality health care in South and Southern Africa.

Health Systems Trust wishes to appoint a Clinical Mentor to support the clinical services in the Frances Baard District in the Northern Cape supported by the South Africa Sustainable Response to HIV and AIDS (SA SURE) project. SA SURE aims to strengthen local capacity to provide sustainable HIV and TB-related care and treatment services. This is a contract position linked to the duration of the project.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
 

Abstract

Objective:

Accurate and timely information on the causes of child deaths is essential in guiding efforts to improve child survival, by providing data from which health profiles can be constructed and relevant health policies formulated. The purpose of this study was to identify causes of death in children younger than 5 years-old in a tertiary hospital in South Africa.

Methods:

In every world region, men who have sex with men (MSM) face significantly higher rates of HIV than the general population. Young people are also at increased risk for HIV, comprising over 40% of new HIV infections worldwide. Young MSM (YMSM) face the heightened risks of both populations, as well as a number of vulnerabilities that are unique to YMSM. Despite the clear need for intervention, YMSM are often left out of research, policy, and programs designed for general MSM, general youth, and the general population. While data on HIV among YMSM are extreme - ly limited, existing studies show high HIV prevalence among YMSM around the world.

A new survey provides a comprehensive snapshot of how countries’ education sectors are responding to HIV and AIDS, assesses progress since the last survey in 2004, and points out the policy implications of the current situation. Called the 2011-2012 Education Sector HIV and AIDS Global Progress Survey Progression, Regression or Stagnation?, it was commissioned by the UNAIDS Inter-Agency Task Team on Education convened by UNESCO.

Approximately 30% of teenagers in South Africa report ‘ever having been pregnant’, the majority, unplanned. While this number has decreased over the past few decades, it is still unacceptably high. The figure is for all teenagers. (13-19 years old), but motherhood for an 18 or 19 year old has very different implications than for a young teenager, one aged 15, for example. Therefore this report tries, where possible, to be mindful of differing experiences of pregnancy and motherhood across the teen years.