CPUT participates in nationwide HIV/AIDS survey

From 20 to 24 October 2008, CPUT participated in a Higher Education HIV/AIDS Programme (HEAIDS) survey into the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in institutions of higher education.

With approval from CPUT’s Health Science Faculty Ethics Committee and in collaboration with the HIV/AIDS Unit, a research team from Higher Education South Africa (HESA) randomly selected various departments and faculties to participate in the strictly confidential and voluntary survey.

CPUT’s involvement was part of a broader study currently being conducted by HESA at all public higher education institutions in South Africa to establish the knowledge, attitudes and practices related to HIV/AIDS and to measure the HIV infection levels amongst staff and students. In total, 22 universities and 25,000 students and staff will be involved.

The survey’s findings will be vital in providing a better understanding of HIV/AIDS at CPUT and in the higher education sector in the country in general. They will also serve to inform effective responses to the epidemic, including policy, funding, prevention programmes, and care and support services for staff and students. Results will be made available through the media and through HEAIDS once the entire survey is complete in 2009.

“The survey is useful to CPUT because the data will tell us more about attitudes, trends and behaviours and what sort of intervention programmes need to be implemented,” said the HOD of the HIV/AIDS Unit, Mr. Ashraf Mohammed. “More importantly, we will have a baseline not only for CPUT, but for all 22 institutions which can be used to compare and recommend best practices.”

Launched in 2000 and involving the Department of Education, HEAIDS is South Africa’s first nationally-coordinated and large scale response to HIV/AIDS in the higher education sector. Its purpose is “to reduce the threat of the spread of HIV/AIDS in the higher education sector, to mitigate its impact through planning and capacity development and to manage the impact of the pandemic in a way that reflects the ethical, social, knowledge transmission and production responsibilities that are the mission of HEIs in society.”

Similarly, the mission of the HIV/AIDS Unit at CPUT (based on Cape Town Campus) is to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS/STI and TB on staff and students on all five CPUT campuses.

With an acute understanding that young people are particularly vulnerable to the disease, the Unit’s ten staff members provide a variety of interventions and services: workshops on campus and in the broader community; awareness and prevention campaigns; a peer education programme; Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT); care and support for people infected and affected; and innovative research.

By Sarah Burdeniuk, HIV/AIDS Unit

Written by CPUT News
Email: news@cput.ac.za