Issued by: Department of Health
24 March 1997
The Department of Health's National HIV/AIDS and STD Directorate wishes to inform the public of its forthcoming meeting of the Workplace Forum on HIV/AIDS.
The Workplace Forum on HIV/AIDS is a forum at which all parties interested in effectively managing the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the workplace can come together to discuss, debate and be informed on relevant and topical issues.
The next meeting of the forum will take place on the 25 March at 12.30 in the Escom Conference Centre at Megawatt Park, Sunninghill, Johannesburg. Two speakers have been invited to present, Dr Neil McKerrow and Dr Malcolm Steinberg. They will focus on the increasing social and health issues which are facing South Africa as it enters the second phase of the epidemic. The papers which will be presented will deal with very real issues which employers, managers, trade unionists and individual workers are having to grapple with on a daily basis.
Dr McKerrow, a principal specialist and head of the paediatrics department at Greys Hospital in Pietermaritzburg will present a paper entitled The Social Burden of the Epidemic for Employers: An examination of the issues created by the social needs of the dependents of People Living with HIV and AIDS. Dr McKerrow has published extensively on this subject. He is also a consultant to UNICEF and in this regard has assisted UNICEF and the Zambian government with its response to the AIDS orphan crisis. He will look specifically at the roles of the various stakeholders in dealing with the social consequences of the epidemic.
The second paper will be presented by Dr Malcolm Steinberg the co-director of the HIV Management Services, is well known within the HIV/AIDS field. He has authored several publications, is on the editorial board of the AIDS Bulletin, has done consultancy work for the World Bank and has undertaken extensive research on the demographic and economic impact of HIV/AIDS. Dr Steinberg's paper is entitled Managed Health Care for HIV/AIDS in the Workplace. It will focus on the need for appropriate health care management within the workplace and following the meeting a paper setting out the critical points will be available for all interested parties.
All interested persons are invited to attend the meeting.
Contact persons: Hyla Janse van Rensburg at (012) 3120121 Fax: (012) 3285743 or Ann Strode (0331) 421130.