UCT hosts latest HIV/AIDS testing drive

As the Students' Representative Council's (SRC) Samanthaclaire Ncube points out, nobody needs telling how serious an issue HIV/AIDS is for society.

The health, safety and security co-ordinator thus joined her SRC colleagues in getting their HIV status tested as part of the launch of UCT's First Things First (FTF) campaign on 28 February, a voluntary counselling and testing programme hosted by the Student Wellness Service in collaboration with the HIV/AIDS Institutional Co-ordination Unit (HAICU).

The FTF was borne of collaboration between the national Department of Health, Higher Education HIV/AIDS (HEAIDS), the South African National AIDS Council, and 23 tertiary institutions around the country. It aims to test thousands of students for HIV and, at the same time, address HIV-related stigma.

Since the campaign was launched last year, 22 000 students have been tested. The 2012 instalment aims to take that number to as high as 35 000.

Lucina Reddy, project officer at HAICU and UCT coordinator of First Things First, explains that the campaign aims to instil a sense of responsibility into students regarding their sexual lives.