Report and policy brief: 2nd Annual Conference on Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS Research, Cape Town, 9 - 12 May 2004

S R Kleintjes; K F Peltzer; O Shisana; C I Niang; J R Seager; L C Simbayi; D C Kaseje

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Published:

Oct 1, 2004

Keywords:

SAHARA network conference proceedings policy brief HIV AIDS Sub-Saharan Africa reseach social aspects réseau du SAHARA démarches de conference dossier de politique Afrique Secondaire-Saharan aspects sociaux

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 2 (2004)

Section

Articles

Author Biographies

S R Kleintjes, The Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS and Health Research Programme, Human Sciences Research Council, Private Bag 9182, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa

Ms Sharon Kleintjies is a Research Manager in the Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS and Health Research Programme. She holds an MA in Clinical Psychology from the University of Cape Town and a diploma in Strategic Health Management from the Foundation for Professional Development in South Africa. She is currently completing an MPhil in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Cape Town.

Before joining the HSRC, Sharon was Deputy Director of Mental Health and Substance Abuse in the Western Cape’s provincial Department of Health. There she was responsible for developing strategies, policies, protocols and guidelines for mental health and substance abuse services for the province.

Sharon has extensive experience in policy development and the design of services and programmes for mental health – particularly in community settings. Her areas of interest include: child and adolescent development; intellectual and mental disability; psychosocial rehabilitation; and substance abuse. Her research is informed by her earlier experience practicing as a clinical psychologist in psychiatric settings and, before that, as a community worker focussing on substance abuse.

K F Peltzer, The Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS and Health Research Programme, Human Sciences Research Council, Private Bag 9182, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa

Prof. Karl Peltzer is the Director of the Social Aspects of Health Directorate in the Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS and Health Research Programme of the HSRC.

He obtained his masters, PhD and DrHabil in clinical and health psychology from the Universities of Bremen, Hannover and Klagenfurt. Dr Peltzer researched and taught psychology and health at the University of Malawi, University of Zambia, Awolowo Obafemi University, University of Klagenfurt and University of the North in South Africa. Prior to joining the HSRC, he directed the National Research Foundation Health Behaviour Research Unit at the University of the North, South Africa.

Karl has extensive experience in research on psychology applied to health in Africa, especially in areas of health behaviour, health psychology, clinical psychology and psychotherapy, psychotrauma, substance abuse, chronic diseases of life style, communicable diseases, injuries, traditional and faith healing.

Prof. Peltzer wrote or edited eight books and has more than 230 scientific articles published in the area of psychosocial aspects of health and health promotion in Africa. He has worked with numerous organisations such as WHO, national governments, NGOs and foundations on a number of projects related to health and health care delivery in Africa.

O Shisana, The Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS and Health Research Programme, Human Sciences Research Council, Private Bag 9182, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa

Dr Olive Shisana is the Executive Director and founder of the Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS and Health research programme at the Human Sciences Research Council.

She holds a BA (SS), UNIN, a masters degree from Loyola College, USA and a ScD degree from the Johns Hopkins University, School of Hygiene and Public Health. In 1999 she was admitted into the Johns Hopkins University Society of Scholars for her outstanding contribution to public health.

Prior to joining the HSRC she served as Professor of Health Systems at the National School of Public Health at the Medical University of Southern Africa, where she was a leading founder of a post-graduate diploma on the management of HIV/AIDS in the world of work, launched by the South African Deputy President in 2001. Before this appointment, she served as Executive Director of Family and Community Health at the World Health Organisation in Geneva. In the latter portfolio, she established the WHO HIV/AIDS/STI initiative, and became a founding member of the Partnership on AIDS in Africa. Prior to this appointment she served as Director General of Health in the first post-apartheid government – the first African and the first woman to hold this position. During this tenure she led a group of southern African health officials in the debate on the interpretation of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement on access to drugs at the World Health Assembly sub-committee meeting.

She has published extensively on various aspects of health, including on HIV/AIDS and AIDS as a human security issue. She was the principal investigator on the Mandela/HSRC study of HIV/AIDS (2002), the first systematic national HIV/AIDS prevalence, behavioural risks and mass media impact survey. The study also focussed on the social and cultural determinants of South Africans, HIV prevalence, and the impact of mass media on HIV prevalence in South Africa. She is also the principal investigator of another survey of HIV prevalence among health workers and ambulatory and hospitalised patients in South Africa, and also examined the impact of HIV/AIDS on South Africa's health care system. The report – commissioned by the Department of Health - was completed in February 2003.

C I Niang, Institut des Sciences de I'Environnement,faculté des Sciences, Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, Senegal

Professor Cheikh Niang of the Institute of Science and the Environment, Cheikh Anta Diop University, Dakar, Senegal. Cheikh Niang teach Social Anthropology at the Institut des Sciences de lEnvironnement and Research methods at the Department of Sociology. Professor Niang has established a strong partnership with CODESRIA (Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa) having served as the Director of its 2001 summer Institute on Gender and Reproductive Health. He served as the main facilitator to CODESRIA workshops and meetings on HIV/AIDS Research Methods, Approaches, Concepts and Paradigms in Africa. He is currently writing The CODESRIA "Green Book" on Health, State and Policy in Africa. He has also established a strong partnership with UNAIDS having completed several national and international projects for UNAIDS and its co-sponsors in the past several years. In 1994, he served as Principal investigator of the study "Sexual Negotiations and the use of Female Condom in Senegal". In 1998-2000, He was the Principal Investigator of the research project "Migration and AIDS in West Africa (Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Cote dIvoire)". UNAIDS. In 2000, he served as the Lead Author of the UNAIDS Best Practice Collection documenting Senegalese responses to HIV/AIDS and completed a study on "Socio-economic impacts of VIH/AIDS on children in Senegal" sponsored by UNICEF.

Professor Niang has also established a partnership with ICRW (International Center for Research on Women, Washington, DC) for integrating Senegalese traditional women organization in HIV/AIDS prevention strategies and served as Principal investigator of "Targeted research intervention on Sexually Transmitted Infections" in several countries (Cote dIvoire, Senegal, Rwanda), studies sponsored by FHI. Recently he completed the study "Men having sex with men in Senegalese society: Data collected for the prevention of STDs and VIH/AIDS" (sponsored by The Population Council). He also was the Lead Author of the Program "Targetting Vulnerable Groups in the Multi-Country HIV/AIDS Program for the Africa Region: The case of Men who Have Sex with Men" sponsored by The World Bank. He has contributed to the development of Cultural Approaches to UNESCOs strategies against AIDS. He is currently analyzing ethnographic data from The Gambia and Burkina Faso on male sexuality.

J R Seager, The Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS and Health Research Programme, Human Sciences Research Council, Private Bag 9182, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa

Prof. John Seager is a research director in the Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS and Health Research Programme where he heads the Human Development and Health Research Unit. He holds a doctorate in Ecology and Population Dynamics from the University of Wales and is an honorary professor in Public Health at the University of the Western Cape. Prior to joining the HSRC, Prof. Seager was Director of the Medical Research Council’s Health and Development Research Group and the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Urban Health.

John has extensive experience in human development and health research, focusing on poor people in developing countries.He has conducted several large-scale research projects in peri-urban areas of South African cities and is a member of the consortium running the Young Lives International Study of Childhood Poverty in Ethiopia, Peru, India and Vietnam. He has worked as a consultant for the World Bank, the World Health Organisation, the UK Dept for International Development, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the Development Bank of Southern Africa and the Water Research Commission.

L C Simbayi, The Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS and Health Research Programme, Human Sciences Research Council, Private Bag 9182, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa

Dr Simbayi is a research director in the Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS and Health research programme. He has a PhD, in experimental psychology from the University of Sussex, England. Prior to joining the HSRC, Dr Simbayi was a professor and chairperson in the Department of Psychology at the University of the Western Cape.

Leickness has extensive experience in social science research, especially in the areas of experimental and quasi-experimental research designs, surveys and quantitative analysis of data as applied to psychology. He has taught in these areas as well as in biological psychology at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He has supervised theses at both masters and doctorate levels. He has also undertaken numerous research projects, mostly funded through university research grants. More recently, he led a research team on a national project on sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs), which was commissioned by the Department of Health. Recent publications include Sexually transmitted diseases in the public sector in South Africa; Perceptions, sexual behaviour, health care-seeking behaviour and quality of care; and AIDS awareness and sexual behavioural change in South Africa, both published in 1999 and Health care-seeking behaviour for STDs in South Africa in 2000. His major research interests at present are in the area of applied health psychology, and include such topics as STDs, HIV/AIDS, stress and burnout, substance abuse, and traditional healing.