War

Address at the Second Joint Sitting of the Third Democratic Parliament Cape Town

AIDS among infants, which only a decade ago took the lives of hundreds of babies a year and left doctors in despair, may be on the verge of being eliminated in the United States, public health officials say.

Two-thirds of the 240 beds at the Dream Centre, a step-down-care facility in KwaZulu-Natal province , are standing empty - despite the fact that the institution is located in the province with the highest HIV prevalence rate in South Africa.

While the true extent of violence against women around the world is unknown, current research indicates that violence at the hands of spouses or intimate partners ranges anywhere from 10 to 69 percent, and one in four women may experience sexual violence from a partner in her lifetime. The figure doesn't even include violence at the hands of strangers.

Inequality and a lack of transformation are glaring in the healthcare sector. Though First World facilities and care are available at a price, children in disadvantaged communities continue to die of preventable diseases because of a lack of basic public healthcare facilities.

The combat readiness of the South African National Defence Force is under threat, with the latest results of an AIDS project showing that an overwhelming 89 percent of those soldiers who volunteered for testing were HIV-positive.

Due to the increasing numbers of AIDS-related deaths, burial space in municipal cemeteries in the South African port city of Durban has become hard to find.

Sunlight and fresh air are beginning to enter the dark and dirty room of domestic violence, exposing it as one of the hidden sources of the world's AIDS crisis.

The Occupational Therapy Association of South Africa will hold its congress with the theme Doing Things Differently: Enhancing Human Potential. This congress seeks to highlight different, emerging approaches to occupational therapy as the profession responds to unprecedented local and global challenges. The presence and contribution of occupational therapists from around the world will provide important insights and learning opportunities as we share international perspectives on the need for doing things differently in response to contextual demands. South African practitioners will be able to showcase their efforts in response to the challenges of a democratising and transforming society. More information is available from OTASA (W.Cape): Congress 2004 PO Box 268, Howard Place, 7450. Questions can be directed to Marion Fourie, Scientific Committee on (021) 558 0483.