Celluar service providers Vodacom, Altec, and Altron have partnered with the City of Johannesburg, the Gauteng Department of Health and the Wits Institute for Sexual and Reproductive Health, HIV and Related Diseases (WRHI) to provide the Hillbrow area with maternal and child HIV/Aids and tuberculosis services.

The Vodacom Altron Altech Centre for Specialised Services not only plans to provide outstanding health care to about one-million people living in the inner city region, it also plans to train health care practitioners and community workers, as well as establish world class research into HIV prevention and management, infectious diseases and reproductive health.

The centre will be situated in the old operating theatre of the former Johannesburg General Hospital, in Hillbrow, which is currently being renovated. The Centre is scheduled to be launched in November 2011.

The private sector stakeholders will foot the R28-miilion renovation costs with Vodacom providing R14-million and Altech and Altron each contributing R7-million each to the initiative.

Head of Strategy and Development at the WRHI, Eugene Sickle, said that “partnerships of this nature are crucial to addressing the long-term challenges we face as a country.”

Mthobi Tyamzashe, chairperson of the Vodacom Foundation, said that the Foundation was excited at the possibilities of the partnership in enhancing child and maternal health and simultaneously contributing to inner city renewal. Tyamzashe added that the initiative demonstrates Vodacom’s commitment to government efforts in the fight against HIV/Aids.

Stakeholders in the project hope that the partnership will be a catalyst in sparking greater corporate social investment projects, not only in the Gauteng province, but also in the rest of the country where HIV/Aids remains one of the biggest social challenges.