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
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South African tertiary institutions took a giant leap forward in the fight against HIV and Aids when they recently launched a national strategic policy framework at a conference held at UCT.

Produced in collaboration with universities by the Higher Education South Africa, the Department of Higher Education and Training as well as Higher Education Aids (HEAIDS), the framework provides a useful guide to universities and FETs in developing an effective response to the HIV/Aids pandemic.

The three-day national conference of Higher Education institutional HIV/Aids programmes was recently held under the theme: Applying the Research/Researching the Applied.

Speakers who addressed the conference included the Professor Anthony Staak, CPUT Deputy Vice Chancellor, the Vice-chancellors of UWC, Stellenbosch and UCT, the Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training Mduduzi Manana as well as speakers from the national Department of Health, UNAIDS and HEAIDS.

The main highlights of the conference were the unveiling of the new HEAIDS logo and the launch of the Policy and Strategic Framework on HIV/Aids for Higher Education.

The first day of this conference was planned to coincide with the celebration of World AIDS Day, on the eve of which the UNAIDS reported that South Africa increased its rollout of HIV treatment by 75% in the last two years, ensuring 1.7 million people had access.

The World Aids Day/Opening of the Conference was hosted by the CPUT HIV/Aids Unit and its director, Professor Ashraf Mohammed.

The report also indicated that during this period new HIV infections in South Africa had fallen by more than 50 000.

Kwanele Butana

Written by CPUT News
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Piercing forward with its commitment to an HIV-free generation, CPUT recently hosted a very successful HIV/Aids Policy Framework and Monitoring & Evaluation Workshop for universities in the Western Cape at its Bellville campus.

Delegates included those running workplace programmes, human resource departments, campus health services, unions, staff associations and staff members working on HIV curricula.

The event, which was organized by the Higher Education HIV/Aids Programme (HEAIDS), focused on various issues surrounding HIV/AIDS in Higher Education such as the importance of prevention programmes and the need for funding.

Feizel Mamdoo, Higher Education South Afica’s communications manager, presented the HIV/Aids Policy Framework for Higher Education during the workshop.

By Kwanele Butana

Written by CPUT News
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The CPUT campus-wide HIV testing drive has officially kicked off. This campaign, dubbed ‘First Things First’ is a counselling and testing drive commissioned by the Department of Higher Education’s Programme on HIV/ AIDS (HEAIDS).

Its purpose is to encourage students, academics, administration and service staff to get tested in the mobile clinic that will visit all CPUT campuses and service points during the next few weeks.
 
Projects Officer Alex Semba said the campaign was first introduced in mid-2011, with the drive primarily aimed at first-year students.
 
He said this year the focus has been expanded to all members of the CPUT community.
 
Part of the campaign is asking participants to watch a counselling DVD that will be uploaded on all CPUT computers.  Thereafter they will be tested using the finger-prick method and receive post-test counseling from the on-site medical staff.
 
The test will take no more than 20 minutes.
 
For those who may be concerned about their status being exposed, Semba says, “For us, confidentiality is key. The only people who have access to your results are you and your health worker.”
 
“We would like everyone who tested to also sign a pledge to stop discrimination, reduce the stigma of HIV/ AIDS and help to curb further infections by practising safer sex”, says Semba.
 
Head of the Unit, Dr Ashraf Mohammed has also encouraged the CPUT community to participate in the drive.
 
“Knowing one’s status is very essential, as it allows you to live a healthy responsible life,” says Dr Mohammed.
 
For more information on dates and venues of the testing drive, watch out for updates via Newsflash or contact the Unit directly on (021) 460 4253.
 
By: Thando J. Moiloa
 
The HIV/ AIDS Unit in collaboration with TB Care has scheduled the campaign as follows: Bellville Campus - 27-29 Feb 2012
Granger Bay Campus - 01 March 2012
Cape Town Campus - 5-7 March 2012
Tygerberg Campus - 8 March 2012
Mowbray Campus - 12 & 13 March 2012
Wellington Campus - 14 & 15 Mach 2012
Optical Dispensing - 19 March 2012
Thomas Patullo - 20 March 2012
Groote Schuur - 22 March 2012

Written by CPUT News
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A conference which empowered young women in higher education with skills such as entrepreneurship, self-defence and personal branding was recently held on the Bellville Campus.

The two-day conference, which was hosted by the HIV/Aids Unit, was attended by approximately 300 female students from universities and TVET Colleges around the Western Cape.
Prof Nomafrench Mbombo, Western Cape Health MEC, told the young women to be wary of risky sexual activities as it could lead to their downfall such as unwanted pregnancies, sexual transmitted infections and abusive relationships.
“Girls are groomed for men’s sexual gratification,” she said.

Mbombo decried the patriarchal environment which raises boys differently from girls and added that young women sometimes feel the pressure to have children in order to please or gain hold over their men and that transactional sex is a common practice these days as women wants to live the good life. 

Acting Dean: Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences, Prof Penelope Engel-Hills, said she works with communities around issues of gender-based violence. 
“In this country women are not well at the moment and this means that the society at large is ill,” said Engel-Hills.

HEAIDS Project Manager, Alex Semba, said the conference was a platform for the delegates to network with each other.
Semba discussed the programmes that HEAIDS is providing to universities and colleges to address the ‘blessing’ culture in a bid to reduce HIV infections among women between the ages of 15 and 24 by 30%.
He said health and wellness is important in order for higher education institutions to perform their core functions of teaching, research and community engagement. 
During the conference the delegates received goodie bags and spot prizes, and were equipped with a range of skills including personal safety, entrepreneurship and leadership.

Written by Kwanele Butana
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Three books targeting students about HIV/Aids and general wellness have been produced at CPUT and will be rolled out across higher education institutions.

The guidebooks were revealed during the recent HIV Curriculum Integration Book Launch at the Protea Hotel in Durbanville.

The initiative was a pilot project funded by the Higher Education HIV/Aids programme (HEAIDS) and the objectives include strengthening the capacity of lecturers to integrate HIV/Aids into university and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) college curricula as well as proposing ways of addressing gaps regarding HIV/AIDS issues in the respective curricula.

The HIV/Aids Unit, in collaboration with Student Counselling, Nursing Department and the office of DVC: Teaching and Learning, made history by developing the first booklet of its kind in South Africa titled, “Student Guide: Roadmap to your social, mental and physical wellbeing”.

This interactive book can be used by university and TVET college students not only as a guide to their holistic wellness, but also for their HIV-related projects and workshops.

The second book titled, “Guide 4 Life: Wellness Guide”, emanates from HIV/Aids workshops held with students in the Department of Office Management and Technology and is about equipping people to protect their health.

The Tabeisa textbook titled “How2BAidsAware” was previously published more than 10 years ago, but the HEAIDS funds made it possible to publish its second edition that will be used by CPUT’s Information Technology Management lecturers.

Information Technology Management and Office Management and Technology already have HIV/Aids integrated into their curricula as credit-bearing modules.

These resource books will be available at all CPUT libraries as well as Blackboard and can be purchased through the HIV/Aids Unit.

“We will soon be going on a road show to the different campuses to create further awareness of the integration of HIV into the curricula amongst academics and student leadership,” says Melanie Marais, head of HIV/Aids Unit.

Written by Kwanele Butana
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CPUT today declared a zero tolerance approach against gender-based violence.

The Institutional Position Statement on Gender-Based Violence was officially launched this morning at a function where the university and government partners made it clear that gender-based violence had no place in higher education institutions.

“We are saying: ‘We don’t have an appetite for gender-based violence. We don’t have tolerance for gender-based violence and as an institution, we are going to deal harshly with all these particular aspects if they try in any way to rear their ugly head within the confines of CPUT, said Vice-Chancellor, Dr Chris Nhlapo.

Deputy Higher Education and Training Minister Buti Manamela commended CPUT for its progressive approach in developing the policy.

“Gender-based violence, including rape and other forms of sexual harassment remains one of the foremost challenges that we have to tackle hand in hand as citizens and as government. We cannot treat gender-based violence with a business as usual attitude.”

He said the scourge of gender-based violence at higher education institutions had been a constant plague that interferes with students’ studies and careers.

“It corrupts the integrity of the education system and erodes the Constitutional rights to equality, dignity and freedom from all forms of violence.”

Thokozani Nyawasha from The Higher Education and Training HIV/AIDS Programme (HEAIDS) said the Higher Education Gender-Based Violence Policy Framework, would ensure that all universities and colleges must have dedicated gender-based violence police. She said this policy was currently undergoing internal processes before its planned release later this year.

“Our hearts bleed when we witness an increase in gender-based violence in institutions of higher learning. We, however, find solace in what we are witnessing today. This day shows that it is time to act and not to talk. While many universities and TVET colleges still do not have any policies on gender-based violence CPUT has demonstrated leadership”.

Written by Ilse Fredericks
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Statistics on gender-based violence (GBV) in South Africa are staggeringly high and universities are not immune to the scourge.

As part of its response, the Department of Higher Education and Training and HEAIDS is developing a standardised framework for GBV, which will eventually be implemented at all universities across South Africa.

CPUT is among the institutions who decided to take a stand against GB and an Institutional Position Statement on gender-based violence has been drafted.

The university’s new GBV policy should be launched in August.

The Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences has been proactive in starting to align staff members with the policy through a series of seminars that seek to unpack the interventions that have been or could be used to reduce gender-based violence in a particular health profession.

The seminars consider interventions that promote gender equality and that challenge accepted cultural norms that endorse violence against women and girls. It may include descriptions of how interventions have been implemented and evaluated in a variety of social contexts, including schools and community structures, and how these might be replicated and/or modified for use in a health profession. NGO partnerships provide the civil society responses of crisis intervention, advocacy and community of practice. The methodological rigour is supported by McMaster University’s National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools (Canada).

 “If we acknowledge that one in three women will be victims of abuse in their lifetime then the implication is that one in three female students or staff members may possibly be victims and reciprocally, that one in three males may be perpetrators,” says Dr Navindhra Naidoo, acting head of the Emergency Medical Sciences Department and one of several collaborators on the draft policy.

“We are putting the issue on our professional agendas. We are looking at what is our science, what is our agenda, what are the tools of our trade and how can we use the ‘tools’ of our proverbial ‘trade’ to be inclusive of gender-based violence.”

Prof Penelope Engel-Hills, Acting Dean of the Faculty, said the faculty was taking a critical look at how and whether the issue of GBV was being dealt with in the classroom and in the curriculum.

“We know that at least ten percent of reported rapes occur in Higher Education Institutions. We really feel that if we get our lecturers and researchers talking about this, together with our support staff, we can influence what happens at CPUT.”

 Naidoo said the issue of GBV affected all three of the university’s pillars of teaching and learning, research and community engagement.

“In terms of teaching and learning, if students are intimidated or in constant fear they cannot meaningfully study. Being free of violence is a social determinant of one's education. We need to ensure that we provide a safe environment to promote and protect one’s health and education rights.”

He said much of CPUT’s research did not deal with the socio-political context of violence.

“We need to get our respective professions more connected to our students’ lived realities.”

Naidoo said our campuses were not protected from and our processes not protective of the escalating frequency and brutality of GBV.

“…that’s why we need to do community engagement activities. We need to take the issue back to the community and say we as researchers have looked at this issue and we have the following policy recommendations so we can start influencing change. That’s how CPUT becomes an agent of change rather than a place where victims (and perpetrators) are ‘born’.”

Engel-Hills concurred: “Our research and our identity as being educators should work together and it must bring a positive influence in our communities”.

To read more about the policy, please click here: https://www.cput.ac.za/newsroom/news/article/3535/cput-takes-stand-against-gender-based-violence

Written by Ilse Fredericks
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