[procaare] Media Release : HIV/AIDS Clinical Management Program

[Veena Pillay <procaare@healthnet.org>]

Media Release : HIV/AIDS Clinical Management Program
- Veena Pillay
********************

Africa's Largest Electricity Company Launches The World's Biggest HIV/AIDS Doctor Training
Programme

Johannesburg, South Africa - February 25 2003 - Eskom, Africa's largest electric utility
company, has joined forces with The Foundation for Professional Development (FPD) the
Southern African HIV Clinicians Society (SAHCS) and Development Communication Associates
(DCA), a US-based cause development organization, to ensure that African doctors and
nurses are trained in the effective treatment of HIV/AIDS patients.

According to Mr. Thulani S Gcabashe, Chief Executive of Eskom, "This South African
developed and South African led effort will eventually expand to serve healthcare
professionals throughout the developing world, and in time, earn its place as an example
of best practice internationally."

Eskom will serve as champion in building a local and global partnership to ensure that
this initiative has the resources it needs to succeed. A $725,000, three-year commitment
from the company will provide start-up funding to focus on training practitioners who
serve rural communities and the public sector. DCA will coordinate the partnerships
efforts to secure and provide long-term sustainable funding from all donor sectors. The
South Africa Department of Health has also been consulted as a key stakeholder in the
effort.

"Eskom's latest initiative is a great example of business making a difference in the fight
against HIV/AIDS," said Haiko Alfeld, Director for Africa at the World Economic Forum.
"Furthermore, it provides a new model of public-private partnership that will have an
impact well beyond the borders of South Africa. Through our Global Health Initiative,
Eskom plays a leading role in mobilizing the business response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
We are convinced that this strong expression of corporate citizenship will lay a useful
foundation for a deeper business engagement in NEPAD (The African Renaissance).  We also
hope that this new and tangible example in action will pave the way for greater private
sector participation in the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria."

The training initiative will be managed by the FPD in association with the SAHCS.  The
pilot of the HIV/AIDS clinical training programme, which began in September 2001, has
already trained 2500 healthcare professionals in the Southern African region.

According to Dr. Gustaaf Wolvaardt, Executive Director of the FPD, relatively few of the
estimated 31 480 doctors and 202 000 nurses in Southern Africa have received training in
the clinical management of the disease and in counseling and testing their patients and
families. "With an estimated 12 190 000 infected in Southern Africa, virtually every
health practitioner will encounter patients infected with the virus. While the number of
practitioners are insufficient to meet the demands for care, they represent the capacity
at hand and are at the front lines. We need to give them the tools they need to care for
people as effectively as possible." Dr. Wolvaardt said.

He noted that the training curriculum and content meets the standards of the International
AIDS Society, but is unique in using exceptional local practitioners as trainers. "They
understand the environment, know the practitioners and speak the language," Dr. Wolvaardt
said. The reliance on local practitioners as faculty means that the training program costs
a fraction of training efforts currently imported from the north based on a survey by the
United Nations AIDS organization.  Part of the programme objectives is to network
graduates of the course through alumni programmes under the auspices of the SAHCS.
Branches of the Society are being established in countries where courses have run.  It is
envisaged that this alumni network will help with the roll out of treatment in the region.
It offers the donor community a cost effective, measurable intervention that promises to
produce significant results in building health care infrastructure in Southern Africa.

Eskom has, since 1987, taken a comprehensive approach in response to the HIV/AIDS
pandemic. Most recently, it committed over $9 million to the South African AIDS Vaccine
Initiative, a presidential lead programme of the South African Medical Research Council.
This contribution is the world's largest corporate contribution towards HIV vaccine
development, making Eskom's contribution towards vaccine development in excess of  $12
million.

Veena Pillay
Email: id2222@nol.co.za
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