A Comparative Analysis of the Financing of HIV/AIDS Programmes

In Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.

South Africa is undergoing a process of epidemiological transition from infectious to non‐communicable diseases (NCDs). Reliable estimates of population health parameters are therefore essential to understand the nature of the changing disease profile and translate such information into effective health promotion and disease prevention programmes.

In response to the AIDS epidemic and poverty, the Zimbabwean government and other organisations are implementing various programmes aimed at assisting orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in the eight districts surveyed. It is clearly important to have an audit of the social services and support structures available for OVC in the eight districts and to have a clear understanding of the situation of OVC including their needs and concerns in order to have proper prioritisation, designing and evaluation of programmes that are aimed at supporting the affected children.

Currently 6.4 million people in South Africa live with HIV, this figure represents a quarter of the burden of HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa and 18 per cent of the global burden. With this view, the South African National HIV Prevalence, Incidence and Behaviour Survey, 2012 is a crucial report for government, policy makers and other stakeholders as they work towards reducing the HIV epidemic in South Africa.
This 2012 HIV survey is the fourth in the series of national population-based surveys. The survey was conducted from December 2011 to November 2012. As with previous surveys, it was designed to investigate the overall HIV prevalence, incidence and behaviour as well as social determinants that drive the epidemic. It also served to collect data to help monitor the National Strategic Plan 20072011 and set the baseline for the 20122016 NSP. This report is a must-read and essential for researchers who want to understand the HIV dynamics in South Africa.

Education is an essential ingredient of the socio-economic development of any country, and educators are a vital part of any nation's educational system. If educators are sick, or absent from school, or leave the profession, the nation stands to lose. Yet the health status of our educators may go unknown. Prior to this report, there were no primary level South African national data assessing the ill-health and attrition of educators. Rumours about their ill-health and reasons for attrition abounded. It is for this reason that the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) decided to commission the HSRC-led consortium to conduct this nation-wide research assessing the health status and attrition of our educators, with a focus on HIV/AIDS and its determinants.