Setting
the Scene | Background
| The Trip | South
Africa | Botswana
| Uganda | Exiting
the Scene
Each component of HAP is coordinated by
a team consisting of both senior management and union employees.
The HAP prevention program uses peer educators who are responsible
for meeting with all employees. They sit with employees
during lunch breaks, walk the shop floor with them, set
up educational meetings after work, plan for companywide
educational programs, and participate in community health
fairs. The integrated health care component
uses a traditional employee health benefit approach and,
through an agreement with a vendor, is able to offer every
individual living with HIV an expanded medical benefit to
cover the cost of HIV specialty care. This is a confidential
program that requires the HIV positive individuals to make
their status known to their health care providers. Individuals
are then registered for Aid for AIDS, an expanded benefit
program.
With a few hours to spare before our
next event, a few of us organized a short tour of Pretoria.
John, our driver, agreed to take us around, showing us Pretoria’s
“downtown” and city hall, a college town where the area’s
clubs are located, and a nearby township. HIV prevention messages
were at every crossroad in the township: on billboards, on
the backs of benches at bus stops, and on neighborhood kiosks.
From what we saw, it would be difficult to miss the message
of prevention; it appeared everywhere along our short route
to the township. Anyone who could read and understand English
could learn how to prevent HIV transmission; however, we had
been told that many township residents have little, if any,
formal education.
As he conducted our tour, John told
us how things had changed since the end of apartheid. Unemployment
and crime were higher. Tourism had slowed, and young professionals
were looking for ways to leave the country. John’s narrative,
coupled with our observations during the side trip, confirmed
that much remains to be done in the post-apartheid South
Africa.
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