HIV-911’s Double Triumph!

• The HIV-911 programme recently celebrated it’s move to bigger and better premises. HIV-911 is now located at Hut 10, King George V Avenue, Howard College Campus, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban. HIV-911 Director, Debbie Heustice, in her inaugural address to partners and friends of the dynamic programme, celebrated a double triumph - HIV-911 now houses information on more than 10 000 HIV/AIDS-related service providers across South Africa!

HIV-911 just keeps growing!

• HIV-911 is constantly expanding and growing it’s database and is pleased to report a remarkable growth in number of organisations housed over the past year.Whilst the larger provinces have thus far into Series 2, grown the most, the smaller provinces have also shown remarkable expansion. Series 2 commenced on 1 October 2008. During this time we have updated Gauteng, Northern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga, and are currently working on Free State and western Cape. As a result, these provinces will show greater expansion from Series 1 to Series 2 than provinces that have not as yet been actively revised. By the end of September all of the provinces will have undergone a revision.Please see below for a table comparing Series 1 of the HIV-911 directory seriesand Series 2, thus far:
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SABCOHA and HIV-911 work together

• Republished from SABCOHA website, with kind permission of SABCOHA SABCOHA has formed a working partnership with the HIV-911 Programme, Centre for HIV/AIDS Networking (HIVAN), which offers a database of 6,000 HIV-related services and support in any area of South Africa. The HIV-911 Programme is dedicated to providing information on where to locate HIV-related services and support in any area of South Africa. As a result, finding appropriate HIV-related services has now been made easy.Call the HIV-911 Data Collection Line (0860 HIV 911 / 0860 448 911) or surf their database online for information on over 6 000 HIV-related organisations country-wide.HIV-911 has also recently introduced a hard copy directory project. To date, directories have been published for KwaZulu-Natal and the Northern Cape. Gauteng’s directory will be available from early March and the rest of the country will follow shortly thereafter. A directory for each province will be produced each year. This means that each year one full set of nine provincial directories will be produced.HIV-911 are offering SABCOHA members and associates a 25% discounted rate on the purchase price of each provincial directory. To save R50 on each directory, place your order on line - noting that you are a SABCOHA member. Provincial Directories cost R150 each for SABCOHA members and associates.Each organisation on the HIV-911 database and each clinician on the SAMA database will be provided with one complementary copy of the relevant provincial directory. A total of 17,500 directories will be produced and disseminated to HIV-related support services in series one. The national directory project provides yet another means by which information on HIV-related services can be easily provided to HIV Service Providers. The HIV-911 directory database can also be viewed online at www.hiv911.org.zaThe HIV-911 national directory project is partially funded by USAID/PEPFAR through a partnership between HIVAN and the Foundation for Professional Development.

Launch of the HIV-911 National Directory of HIV-Related Services (Series 1, 2007/2008)

• On 29 November 2007 the HIV-911 Programme launched its first hard copy national directory series of HIV-related services. Series one will consist of a staggered set of nine provincial directories which are being produced and disseminated between December 2007 and November 2008. The launch was a breakfast event at the University of KwaZulu-Natal Westville Campus. It was an excellent occasion complete with a number of the HIV-911 Programme staff and funders, representatives of the US Government, KZN provincial and local government, the Non-Government, Faith-based and University Community.The speakers were:Dr Fikile Ndlovu, General Manager, Chief Directorate: HIV/AIDS, Office of the Premier, KwaZulu-Natal, Dr Shaidah Asmall, Programme Director, Higher Education HIV/AIDS Programme (HEAIDS), Higher Education South Africa (HESA), Dr Sue Goldstein, Executive, SA Programmes, Soul City: Institute for Health and Development Communication.

UKZN Scoops Unitech Awards

• (reposted from UKZN Online, November 2007

UKZN received six Excellence Awards at the Unitech 2007 Congress held in Durban from November 14-16. The Congress was organised and hosted by UKZN for the second successive year as Professor Dasarath Chetty is the national president.

Development Brief, the magazine aimed at donors, and HIV-911, the helpline set up by the Centre for HIV/AIDS Networking (HIVAN), were awarded first prize in their categories. The University’s alumni publication, UKZNTOUCH; Growing a Nursing School, which commemorates the School of Nursing’s 50th anniversary; the electronic newsletter UKZN Online; and the UKZN website were runners-up in their categories.

Unitech is the association of marketing, communications and public relations practitioners at South African Higher Education Institutions and Further Education and Training (FET) Colleges. The theme for this year’s Congress which brought together 120 delegates from 25 institutions was “Changing Lanes: Global Best Practices in Marketing, Communications and Advancement.” The Excellence Awards are adjudicated by a panel of independent judges representing the publishing, printing and electronic media. For more information on this award, please click here

HIV-911 Data Collection Centre staff recently attended a three-day training course held by the Foundation for Professional Development (FPD).

• The HIV-911 Programme collaborated with FPD to bring a course on HIV/AIDS Management for Lay Counsellors to AIDS Service Organisations working in KZN. The call for applications was so overwhelming that FPD has booked three courses in 2007 (all fully subscribed) and further courses are planned for 2008. Groups of 60 course participants in this course undertake three full days of face to face training which is coupled with self-study materials which need to be completed within three months of the course. FPD funds the running costs of the course through a grant received from USAID/PEPFAR.

This course, entitled HIV/AIDS Management for Lay Counsellors is explained below:Counselling people with HIV/AIDS is not only a gift, but an on-going process of learning and acquiring wisdom. A learning and wisdom which can only be acquired through helping those who have been infected with, or affected by, HIV/AIDS.Skill in comprehensive HIV/AIDS Counselling encompasses all aspects of HIV/AIDS, from diagnosis to death, and is therefore seminal to the sound emotional, psychological and spiritual support of people with HIV/AIDS.Since the advent of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the concept of voluntary, counselling and testing (VCT) has gone far beyond the mere testing of people to determine the nature and cause of what ailed them.To meet this need the Foundation for Professional Development has designed a course in HIV/AIDS management for lay-counsellors. A comprehensive, easy-to-use, manual for Southern Africa has been developed by a leading expert in the field. The study guide eliminates the need for additional textbooks, thus providing an integrated course for caregivers, supporters and lay-counsellors.