Mid Term Report - Gauteng Online

organise support groups for people living withHIV and AIDS, and in 2005/2006 fundedthe income generating projects of 10 supportgroups. A total of 383 support groups wereoperating in health facilities and within the communityin the year under review. Training wasprovided to support group members to equipthem with counselling skills and basic HIV andAIDS information. Additionally, 101 members ofthe support groups were trained as Peer Educatorsand 91 as Lay Counsellors.A comprehensive HIV and AIDS care and treatmentprogramme, including anti-retroviral therapy, is beingimplemented with the following outcomes:• A total of 352 874 patients have been assessedto date and 170 507 CD4 tests havebeen conducted, an increase of 96 941 from2004/2005.• The number of patients on treatment increasedfrom 12 983 in 2004/2005 to more than44 000, of which 6 000 were children. Thenumber of facilities offering ART increased from23 in 2004/2005 to 34 (87% of hospitals,79% of CHCs and 83% of districts).• Forty sites have been accredited to providetreatment; services will start at the remainingseven sites as soon as the infrastructure has beencompleted and the relevant staff appointed.• There is an active recruitment of pharmacists,medical practitioners, dieticians, social workers,nurses and counsellors to make up the teams toprovide comprehensive care.• In addition to care, educational materials stressingthe need to know one’s HIV status and prevention,the importance of diagnosing TB andcompleting TB treatment, nutrition, and condomuse are distributed at all health facilities.Measures have been taken to address psycho-socialand economic factors which drive HIV infection andincrease the impact of AIDS. These include the following:• Poverty relief measures have been made accessiblefor families affected by AIDS.• Traditional healers made a breakthrough by settingup a coordinating committee at the traditionalhealer’s summit and providing visible supporton AIDS programmes.• The provincial World Aids Day door-to-doorcampaign has been conducted annually in partnershipwith municipalities across the provinceand saw 12 000 trained volunteers visit morethan 800 000 homes, reaching up to two millionpeople with information and education addressingHIV prevention, health care for peoplewith AIDS and support for affected families andchildren.Public safetyPublic safety and social crime prevention have beentop priorities for the provincial government. In linewith its commitments, the provincial government in2006 adopted a renewed, integrated approach toimproving safety in Gauteng in the Gauteng SafetyStrategy and the Gauteng Road Safety Strategy.Gauteng Safety StrategySafety and security are central to the realization ofthe vision to build Gauteng as a globally competitivecity region. The vision of the Gauteng SafetyStrategy (GSS) is “A globally competitive city regioncharacterised by households and communities whoenjoy a good quality of life because they live, workand travel in a law-governed society free of fear,violence and crime”.The key pillars of the GSS, which is in line with theNational Crime Prevention Strategy, are to:• prevent and reduce violent and serious economiccrimes• improve and enhance the quality of policing• promote better coordination of the criminaljustice system• strengthen intergovernmental relations and managethe fighting of crime through an integratedapproach across GPG departments and municipalities• improve systematic means of data collection andanalysis for effective crime prevention• build and promote a social movement againstcrime.The social movement against crime seeks to mobiliseMidterm Report - 2004/06 • 31