Background

HIVAN was established by the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2002 as part of the University’s efforts to address HIV/AIDS on all campuses and all levels within the institution.

Mission

HIVAN’s primary purpose is to promote, conduct, and build capacity for research that is responsive to, and contributes to alleviating the circumstances of, people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. By connecting multidisciplinary scholarship with the immediate needs and problems of health-care providers, civil society organisations, and communities, and by making relevant information accessible to them, HIVAN strives to enhance the quality of HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment in both the formal and informal public health systems.

Geographic scope

HIVAN’s priority is to inform and impact practical efforts to address the epidemic in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, but activities elsewhere are not excluded. Regardless of where it works, HIVAN always endeavours to ensure that the outcomes of its work are widely applicable.

Core goals

The central goals of HIVAN are to:

1. Conduct and facilitate innovative HIV/AIDS research in partnership with communities, civil society organisations, and public health-care facilities;
2. Assist in training young researchers and particularly social researchers to work in interdisciplinary teams with biomedical and health colleagues;
3. Build capacity among practitioners in the public and civil society sectors to engage in applied research;
4. Promote dialogue, better understanding and collaboration between researchers and practitioners in the province;
5. Connect researchers and practitioners in KwaZulu-Natal with counterparts elsewhere in South Africa;
6. Support the University in ensuring that staff and students are informed about and engaged with the epidemic and that infected and affected members of the University community have access to adequate support on campus; and
7. Disseminate practical information about the pandemic across the various sectors of society.

Programmes

For the first five years, HIVAN managed its operations through five units, namely: the Social and Behavioural Sciences Unit; the BioMedical Sciences Unit; the Communications, Arts and Advocacy Unit; the Networking Unit and the Campus HIV/AIDS Support Unit. In late 2005 the Campus HIV/AIDS Support Unit was incorporated into, and is now supported by, the University AIDS Programme. Over the past two years HIVAN’s activities have been consolidated into two major programme areas. The first of these, lead by Professor Eleanor Preston-Whyte, is the Social and Behavioural Sciences Unit, the head offices for which continue to be at McCord Hospital. From mid 2006 the database, networking, cultural arts and communications activities have been consolidated under the Communications, Arts, Advocacy and Networking Programme of HIVAN. As a result of this merger, all the non-academic activities of HIVAN are now consolidated under one roof and under the management of HIVAN’s Project Director, Debbie Heustice. Further details on the activities and achievements within these two main programme areas are provided below.

A. Social and Behavioural Sciences Programme

• Multidisciplinary Applied Research
The Social and Behavioural Sciences Programme consists of twelve research projects conducted at various HIVAN urban and rural research sites in KwaZulu-Natal. Many of these projects were initiated on HIVAN’s core funding but now continue through grants from a variety of international donors. While most of these research projects are now in the analysis and writing phase. All of HIVAN’s reseach programmes have, or are in the process of publishing their findings. Four books are also in preparation – the first written by the Community Responses team, analyses the findings on an in-depth research-linked intervention on KwaZulu-Natal’s north coast; Dr Patti Henderson has spent much of the past two years completing a book detailing the lived experiences of people dealing with HIV/AIDS in the Okhahlamba area. She will soon commence work on a forth book on children and the pandemic; and Professor Preston-Whyte continues to work on her book on the insights and lessons learnt from the six years of research in HIVAN. For further details see the summary report here.

• Applied research capacity-building, mentorship, graduate teaching and training
In partnership with the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, HIVAN has lead a five-year ethnographic research training programme directed at building multidisciplinary, ethnographic research capacity in the field of HIV/AIDS and public health. 2007/2008 is the final year of this grant. A final ethnographic research methods workshop was held in May 2007, bringing together the local and international project partners and a number of past students. 10 past participants presented papers on research they have conducted using ethnographic methods which they have applied to projects across a variety of disciplines. The success of the ethnography course resulted in two special requests for additional short courses in ethnographic methods – one at Ekhupileni Clinic, Cato Manor and the other at the prestigious Africa Centre for Population Studies and Reproductive Health. Professor Preston-Whyte, in collaboration with The School of Development Studies (SDS) at the University has been running of a series of high-level forums debating issues of current controversy and public concern in HIV/AIDS in South Africa. To date five debates have been held. These sessions have brought together critical thinkers in the HIV arena. The sessions were recorded on DVD for dissemination to a wider practitioner audience and for teaching purposes (copies can be purchased from HIVAN).

B. Communications, Arts, Advocacy and Networking Programme

Bringing the talents of the networking, communications and arts teams together has allowed HIVAN to explore a number of exciting opportunities with new partners such as the Foundation for Professional Development, the CSIR in Pretoria and MetaLab in the United Kingdom - with whom this Unit worked to develop the prototype for Singazenzela, a virtual space in which children can learn, grow, seek help, store important documents, meet and have fun with their friends. This project is now entering its second phase. The results of the five-country PANCEA cost effectiveness study, the South African component of which was conducted by HIVAN’s networking staff, have been published and this study has been drawn to a close in this country. Summaries of the various activity streams within the Communications, Arts, Advocacy and Networking are provided below:

• Networking Fora
The team continues to facilitate a wide variety of regular, free information sharing and capacity building, contact events bringing together researchers, practitioners and other community stakeholders within and across sectors in KwaZulu-Natal. Sectors represented at forums include higher education, public, private, faith-based, non-government, and community-based sectors. These events, many now in their sixth year, remain popular and continual feedback from forum audiences ensure that topics are responsive to the needs of organisations working in the HIV-related arena in South Africa. Transcripts and other materials from past forums can be located at here and here. The forums continue to be a marketing and dissemination point for HIVAN resources, such as those created by the HIV-911 programme and new community booklets - Hi-Virus and Shoes of Light (visit HIVAN’s community resource archive here).

For a summary report from the Networking team please click here.

• Website
HIVAN has two websites. The HIVAN website is a richly stocked electronic networking tool that showcases groundbreaking projects and resources committed to alleviating the impact of HIV/AIDS between 2001 and 2007.

The new HIV-911 Website and Online Directory provides a means by which individuals and organisations from across South Africa can access the HIV-911 database. In addition to an easy to use data base search located on the right hand side of the home page, users have access to supplementary information on the HIV-911 programme. For example, they can read more about the programme; place electronic / credit card orders for directories; read reviews from users of the database; update and add their details to the HIV-911 database on line. There are five on line search categories: keyword, location, type of organisation, service area, clients served and language. Location searches can be done by province, district municipality, and local municipality. Currently the HIV-911 website receives about 7500 visits a month. For further details see here

• HIV-911 Programme
The HIV-911 programme was launched nationally in 2007. It incorporates an on-line database of over 6 500 HIV-related service providers in South Africa, hard copy provincial directories (18 500 circulated throughout South Africa in Series 1) and a data collection / referral line providing free service delivery referral advice to the South African community and the AIDS Service Sector. The data collection line operates nationally on a ShareCall number 0860 HIV 911 / 0860 448 911. The HIV-911 service continues to expand, and it has fast emerged as a flagship umbrella programme for HIVAN’s Communications, Arts, Advocacy and Networking Programme bringing HIVAN into contact with a series of new, more commercially minded, funders and partners. These new partnerships have bolstered the reach and product range of the HIV-911 service, provided excellent national marketing exposure and have secured significant funding for HIV-911 for the next few years.

For a summary report on the HIV-911 Programme click here.

To access the HIV-911 on line database and website click here

• Popular media
Between 2001 and 2008, HIVAN produced a dual-language (isiZulu and English) community newsletter called Sondela (lit. ‘Coming Closer’) that disseminated information to, and furthered networking among, communities with limited access to electronic and print media. It has been distributed widely throughout and beyond KwaZulu-Natal. Grassroots organisations continually provide positive feedback and now voluntarily contribute stories, articles and other information for publication. The exposure afforded by the newsletter to local-level organisations and individual champions within communities has frequently reaped direct benefits for them. The length and print-run have increased with every successive issue. What began as an eight-page information brief is now a 24-page publication. Electronic versions on all Sondela newsletters produced to date are available here. Further funding is required to sustain this important publication.

• Resources
As part of its commitment to be engaging in research which is useful to the broader community, in 2003 HIVAN introduced a series of community resource booklets based on its research. The series now comprises six booklets, namely Supporting Youth: Broadening the Approach to HIV/AIDS Prevention Programmes; Understanding and Challenging Stigma for more Effective HIV/AIDS Management; Babiza’s Story; I got the message; Hi-Virus; and Shoes of Light. A seventh booklet on the subject to resilience is in preparation. Free electronic downloads are available for most of these booklets here
HIVAN has also produced a documentary titled, Deadly Myths. DVD recordings of HIVAN’s popular AIDS Debates can be obtained from HIVAN. Hard copy provincial directories of HIV-related services are currently in preparation and are being circulated to AIDS Service Organisations represented on the HIV-911 database. Currently four directories are in print (KwaZulu-Natal, Northern Cape, Gauteng and Mpumalanga). Directories for all nine provinces will be available by September 2008. See the HIV-911 website for a dissemination schedule and ordering of additional copies at R200 per provincial directory.

• Print media archive
This print media archive is an information silo that stores, indexes and cross-references media cuttings about HIV/AIDS and related issues between 2001 and 2007. The library of media articles boasts over 18 000 items, archived in 55 sub-topic files. The value of this resource as a research tool has been widely recognised by academics and non-academics alike, as it is used to prepare media kits and training aids, and to track current national and international debates about the epidemic during this time period.

• Culture and Arts Programme
HIVAN’s Culture and Arts Programme is now in its sixth year. During this time the team has conducted an impressive number of participatory training programmes, train-the-trainer workshops, community development projects and exhibitions with children, University students, trainee artists, educators and child-care workers, home-based care givers and other HIV-related practitioners. All of these activities have been funded through grants and extended to participants at no cost. The programme continues to prioritise community-based participatory workshops that use culture and the arts as a vehicle for advocacy and expression and provide an alternative mechanism for the transferal of new knowledge and skills, particularly treatment literacy and wellness management. Over the years the programme has received funding from local and international donors. The South African Breweries funded a series of Home-based Care training programmes in Ethekwini and three sites on the north coast of the province. The training was provided in partnership with Honey Allee of the Islamic Medical Association, with the Culture & Arts team integrating techniques such a body mapping and journey mapping into the formal programme. The HBC trainees used these creative approaches as a creative tool for communication to facilitate dialogue between patients and their families, particularly where patients and their kin find it difficult to articulate how they are coping with and affected by HIV/AIDS.

The Cultural Arts team published Hi-Virus – a community children’s book illustrated and written by seven HIV positive children linked to a well known support group in Durban. HIVAN’s seventh booklet in this series, focusing on building child resilience is now in production. Funded by the Steven Lewis Foundation, Canada. The Cultural Arts team has recently secured funding from the National Development Agency (NDA) for a two year project titled Izwi Lethu – Ikusasa Lethu (Our Voices our Future). The project will use participatory learning methods to train and mentor school leaving youth in the Uthungulu district municipality of KwaZulu-Natal in the development of income generating projects that will promote the cultural heritage and arts and cultural tourism in the area. GlaxoSmithKline awarded funding to the Culture and Arts team for the development of a caregiver toolkit to improve mental health of HIV positive children. The US Embassy has assisted the team with funding of wall posters created by children and The National Arts Council has also funded an HIV/AIDS exhibition that will be curated by the Culture and Arts team is 2008.

For further details on the work of the Culture and Arts Programme please click here.

C. The Campus HIV/AIDS Support Unit

The Campus HIV/AIDS Support Unit is dedicated to ensuring that staff and students are informed about, engage with, and have access to support in relation to the HIV epidemic. VCT is also conducted at the Unit in partnership with the Campus Health Clinics. The Unit provides a relaxed, creative and inspiring environment for student-led outreach initiatives, peer education and other counselling programmes. Unit activities are defined through consultation with a student-working group and close interaction with other student organisations and service-providers, both on and off campus. HIVAN is pleased to have been able to hand over this Unit to the University of KwaZulu-Natal from 2006. Campus HIV/AIDS Support Units are now functional on all campuses of the University – that is Howard College, Medical School, Westville, Edgewood and Pietermaritzburg campuses. The primary focus of the CHASU continues to be in the area of peer education, VCT, student HIV events facilitation and provision of HIV-related resources.