• August 19, 2008

HSRC champion, Olympic swimmer Natalie du Toit, has her blood taken at the HSRC offices in Cape Town

Isidingo star Hlubi Mboya has her blood taken at the HSRC offices in Pretoria

First commissioned by the Nelson Mandela Foundation in 2002, in partnership with the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), the HIV/AIDS behaviour and health survey was the first household seroprevalence survey of its kind to be conducted in South Africa.

“Seroprevalence” means the number of people in a population who test positive for a specific disease, based on blood serum.

Results from the 2002 report brought to light several issues surrounding HIV/AIDS healthcare and policy. One of the more remarkable findings was that by 2005, approximately 4.8-million South Africans would be living with HIV/AIDS.

In 2005 the Foundation and the HSRC conducted the second HIV/AIDS health and behaviour survey, which looked not only at HIV/AIDS prevalence nationally, but also at factors such as stigma, family planning services and communication campaigns.

Since 2005, information obtained from these surveys has made a significant impact on planning for the care and treatment of people infected with and affected by HIV.

Realising the need to continually assess HIV prevalence as well as other critical issues surrounding the pandemic, the HRSC (in partnership with a consortium of research institutions) launched the third behaviour and health survey in Pretoria on May 27, 2008.

The 2008 study, which is currently in the field, is being conducted in all nine provinces of South Africa. Field workers have reported that it is being well received.

“There is a positive feeling in the field as people want to participate. Respondents are friendly and make field workers feel welcome,” said HSRC senior researcher Shandir Ramlagan.

The survey involves participants being pricked on the fingertip to yield a few spots of blood, which are sent away to a laboratory for testing. Blood samples gathered remain anonymous throughout the process, as the purpose of the study is to gain a clearer understanding of the reach of HIV and participants’ response to the pandemic, rather than to provide them with their results.

“This survey is a key instrument in understanding the reach of HIV in our country,” said Dr Olive Shisana, CEO of the HSRC. “If we cannot reliably ascertain the extent of the virus in the country, we cannot plan accordingly. We need reliable figures so that a host of health and social interventions in response to HIV in the public, private and NGO sectors can be targeted and implemented accurately.”

The 2008 survey is set to reach about 15 000 households nationally over a period of five to six months, and information gathered will be used to expand and inform HIV/AIDS programmes and services.

Appearing on Summit Television, Brad Mears, CEO of the South African Business Coalition in HIV/AIDS, commented, “We like to see informative research such as this. We need to realise that the epidemic is going to be with us for a long time – so there are some long-term strategies that we need to start putting into place.  The type of research the HSRC and others are doing is highly informative.”

Researchers are hoping to be able to release the results of the third national HIV/AIDS behaviour and health survey in late December 2008, depending on the progress of the study.