Speaking at the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial AIDS Council (KZNPAC) meeting on
Thursday, Premier Sibusiso Ndebele said the provincial government has increased
funding from about R14 million in 2001, R85 million in 2003 and more than R361
million in 2007. "The Office of the Premier is responsible for
co-coordinating an integrated comprehensive HIV and AIDS response through multi-sectoral
collaboration and partnerships between government and all sectors from civil
society. "In this regard, the role of the KZNPAC is critical to lead the
monitoring and evaluation for the implementation of the provincial AIDS strategy
and the targets set out by the South African National AIDS Council," Mr
Ndebele said. The meeting was attended by members of the Provincial Executive
Council, representatives from civil society as well as officials from district
and metropolitan municipalities.
Among the issues discussed were coordination, the epidemiology of HIV and AIDS,
the draft Constitution of KZNPAC, provincial HIV and AIDS and STI's Plan 2007 -
2011, monitoring and evaluation framework. During the meeting, a procedural
guideline of the functioning of the KZNPAC was adopted, including an agreement
to strengthen the secretariat of KZNPAC. A new elected secretariat was tasked to
come up with a detailed and coordinated action plan to be discussed at the next
meeting. Part of the action plan would include a proposed HIV and AIDS Summit to
be convened by KZNPAC to look at critical issues including the prevention of
teenage pregnancies.
Last year during World AIDS Day, Premier Ndebele said the provincial social
cluster had prioritised the National Integrated Plan (NIP), as an integral plan
for care and support to infected people and affected children to alleviate the
impact. The plan, which is a joint initiative by the Departments of Health,
Social Development and Education, aims to provide services such as food,
Home-Based Care services for the sick and Early Childhood Development services
for children. The province also agreed at the time on a HIV and AIDS guiding
strategy to lead the response. "This strategy is aligned to the National
Strategic Plan 2007-2011 that was launched by
SANA
, with it is the monitoring and evaluation framework to help us manage the
response through monitoring, surveillance and impact evaluation and
research," said Mr Ndebele at the time.
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