This project seeks to draw attention to the dynamic and rapidly growing AIDS response activities happening at community level in South Africa. Project activities include:

• conducting in-depth qualitative assessment of community responses to HIV/AIDS in three communities (rural, small town, and urban);
• analysing the South African national HIV/AIDS database to assess trends;
• identifying and working with HIV/AIDS-affected families in a community in KwaZulu-Natal to enable them to deal more openly with issues of sex, sexuality and bereavement;
• training of youth in a KwaZulu-Natal community to become caregivers;
• facilitating events and interactive activities to create community-level dialogues on the role of family and community in relation to HIV/AIDS responses in one KwaZulu-Natal community; and
• developing photo essays and mini-exhibits on HIV/AIDS and the family.

HIV/AIDS

The Maximising Community HIV/AIDS Responses project builds upon research undertaken by CADRE as part of the Communicating AIDS Needs (CAN) project. The purpose of the CAN project is to understand communication needs and gaps in communication in relation to HIV/AIDS and to fast-track response to community needs. It includes quantitative and qualitative research approaches and is also structured to feed into national government and donor policy.

Responses to HIV/AIDS in South Africa to date have largely emphasised the role of the formal health system in areas such as condom distribution, sexual transmitted infection (STI) treatment, voluntary counselling and testing (VCT), prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT), treatment of opportunistic infections, and the provision of anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs). The Maximising Community HIV/AIDS Responses project organisers believe that less attention has been paid to the myriad activities, both formal and informal, occurring within communities by civil society organisations, community-based support groups, neighbourhood associations, churches, and informal networks in response to HIV/AIDS.

“Such community-level responses are not well understood, and lessons that could be drawn from innovative and cost-effective responses have not been adequately captured or disseminated. Gaps in understanding include the linkages and partnerships that exist between such groups, linkages to other sectors (such as local government and/or the private sector), their resource and capacity needs, and the ways in which such grassroots activities are supporting and enhancing formal responses to HIV/AIDS.”