East London - “Since the Siyakhana project began offering companies in Buffalo City/East London a comprehensive HIV and AIDS prevention, testing and treatment service in 2006, it has held 60 successful VCT campaigns and has counselled over 10 000 employees of small and medium-sized companies. That’s a massive success rate in anyone’s book,” says Dr Simeon Odugwu, Siyakhana project manager.

The Siyakhana project, which will run until 2012, is an international benchmark intervention in which Mercedes-Benz South Africa (MBSA), the Border-Kei Chamber of Business (BKCOB) and the German development agency, Deutsche Investitions und Entwicklungestellscaft (DEG) established a private public partnership. The project provides participating small and medium-sized companies with HIV/AIDS awareness, counselling, testing, treatment and impact mitigation services. The MBSA investment in Siyakhana is R11 million.

Sixty-five SMMEs are supported by the project with their employees trained on the basics of HIV/AIDS and TB, and the majority taking voluntary HIV tests at on-site VCT services. Of the 10 000 employees counselled well over 7 000 have taken an HIV test and 750 have tested positive.

“The Siyakhana project is providing comprehensive HIV/AIDS care and treatment to 510 patients at present. Those who test positive are offered access to a general practitioner network for ongoing treatment. They also receive patient training from Siyakhana to learn about the HI virus and the implications of living positively, as well as the importance of having their blood tested periodically so that they begin treatment for HIV when indicated. Medical treatment and ongoing counselling is funded by BroadReach Healthcare LLC through a PEPFAR grant and the programme extends to partners and family members,” explains Odugwu.

“In companies, management responses to HIV set the tone for the company-wide response and we value the partnership with management towards fewer new infections”.

The Siyakhana project has a formal Memorandum of Understanding with the Eastern Cape Department of Health, through which capacity building interventions, to improve quality of care are extended to 12 primary care clinics in Buffalo City.

“It is heartening to note that over the past few months national government’s response has been consistent with respected scientific thinking on HIV and AIDS which suggests improved political will to tackle it. This bodes well for improved treatment delivery.”

Odugwu concludes, “We are pleased that through our capacity building project we were able to support government clinics by deploying nurses and counsellors there and that seven clinics in Buffalo City are able to provide a dedicated HIV and AIDS counselling and testing service. This has had a positive impact on testing and treatment take up. It remains incumbent on us all to heed the national World AIDS Day call of: ‘I am responsible, South Africa is responsible’.”