Staff from HAICU (HIV/AIDS Coordination - UCT) taught the short course Creating Social HIV/AIDS Change Agents (SHACA) from 23 to 27 June.

Sean Brown, Puleng Phooko, Lucina Reddy and Cal Volks were joined by guest lecturers, including independent consultant Azola Goqkwana, Marius Harmsen from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, David Coetzee of UCT's Department of Public Health and Mabuti Mkangeli from the Triangle Project.

The five-day course is administrated by the Centre for Open Learning and is designed for professionals who are unable to take more than a week off work to study. The course aims to equip participants with the critical skills to enhance their capacity to respond appropriately to the challenges of HIV/AIDS programme design and implementation.

The 25 participants came from a diverse range of occupations in both the public and private sectors. They examined whether current South African HIV prevention and support programmes are appropriately constructed and implemented to influence the choices people make, and what critical changes need to be put in place to make the programmes more successful.

The course explored issues such as circumcision, the role of men in the epidemic, HIV/AIDS-related stigmas, vaccines, microbicide, HIV treatment literacy and the role of traditional healers. Participants were also taught about programme management, and had to complete a course assignment on applying theory in their context.

This is the third year that HAICU has run this programme.