South African Cities Network HIV/AIDS Report
--------------------------------------------
Dear Colleagues,
The South African Cities Network is pleased to announce the pub-
lication of the first ever assessment on how South Africa's nine
largest cities are managing HIV/AIDS. The report summarises the
challenges faced by the nation's engines of growth and outlines
the innovative responses developed by municipalities and city
stakeholders.
The report highlights that the most effective programmes have
been those that succeeded in transcending the gap between policy
development and consistent implementation. The challenges high-
lighted in the study are likely to become more acute in the near
future. With this in mind, cities are well positioned to adopt
the following key strategies in the development of a comprehen-
sive response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic:
* Take stock of current HIV/AIDS programmes that are functioning
within the municipality. As the accountable authority at local
level, municipalities are well positioned to cultivate relation-
ships with stakeholders in other sectors who have embarked on
innovative approaches to mobilise funding, human resources and
public support.
* Link HIV/AIDS programming to other developmental issues, such
as poverty alleviation.
* Develop clear guidelines for the mainstreaming of HIV/AIDS so
that all municipal departments can identify and prioritise main-
streaming activities directly related to their core functions.
Such guidelines can be included in an overall mainstreaming pol-
icy.
* Develop stronger intergovernmental relations with provincial
and national government counterparts to strengthen and improve
the implementation of the national policy on HIV/AIDS.
The activities of the SA Cities Network are designed to promote
innovation and strategic thinking between cities and other
spheres of government on current and emerging changes and trends
in urban policy across the world and in South Africa. Through
cooperation, SACN seeks to generate information on best practice
and make recommendations to Network members in order to mobilise
the capacity of cities to support national development.
You may download the report at:
http://www.sacities.net
Kind regards,
Ntombini Marrengane
SACN HIV/AIDS Mainstreaming Coordinator
Tel: +27-11-622-6558
Fax: +27-11-615-8675
Mobile: +27-72-392-8438
mailto:ntombini@iod-sa.com