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HIV/AIDS: a burning issue for African journalists
Information and training on AIDS control at the workplace
02/2003
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InWEnt training programmes in Southern Africa now cover HIV/AIDS control
Information and training on AIDS control at the workplace
InWEnt runs training programmes in Southern Africa on a whole range of subjects, including SME promotion, environmental and product management, road maintenance management, crisis prevention, land use planning, health care, vocational training and public service management. Now, those programmes have been extended to include training modules on strategies for tackling HIV/AIDS.
Southern Africa is the worst-hit region in the world as far as AIDS is concerned. Its health services and education sectors, which struggled to cope even before AIDS appeared on the scene, are stretched beyond the limit by the scale of the epidemic. Economies are hampered by productivity losses, with both micro- and macroeconomic implications, social security systems face escalating costs and labour is in short supply. HIV/AIDS is becoming a hindrance to development for the countries affected and yet another poverty risk for their people.
In a pilot programme organised last year by InWEnt's Sustainable Market Economy unit, a handbook entitled 'HIV/AIDS and Small Business – Beyond the Balance Sheet' was produced in South Africa. Workshops were staged highlighting 'HIV/AIDS as a management problem for small and medium enterprise' and offering practical help for those having to cope with the economic impact of the epidemic. Target groups were employers, NGOs and training institutions. And in the middle of 2003, in cooperation with the German Development Service (DED), development workers will start running workshops for participants in present and past InWEnt courses in South Africa, Tanzania, Namibia, Malawi and Mozambique.
With HIV/AIDS still very much a taboo issue in Southern Africa, the training modules on offer mark an important step forward. Effective prevention of HIV infection and control of the AIDS epidemic are possible only through multi-sectoral action.
Inge Meier-Ewert
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