Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - August 2, 2002
Nawaal Deane
But understanding the social impact of HIV/Aids, and the human realities behind the stark statistics is one of the most difficult and urgent challenges the epidemic poses. A new master's programme at the University of Cape Town (UCT) sets out to provide the necessary critical and analytical understanding.
The university has had an HIV/Aids policy since 1990 but took the initiative to create a structured, academic course that concentrates on the social dimensions and complexities of the HIV/Aids pandemic. "The new programme forms part of UCT's comprehensive institutional approach to combating the HIV/Aids pandemic and is in line with UCT's strategic priorities of HIV/Aids prevention, education and research," says Dr Judith Head, convener of the programme.
The course, the MPhil in HIV/Aids and Society, is inter-disciplinary, and will benefit professionals such as journalists, health and policy professionals who are constantly faced with the HIV/Aids epidemic in their fields. The MPhil aims to provide an understanding of the social, demographic and economic impacts of the epidemic, and to equip students to deal with these issues in an informed manner.
The faculty of humanities coordinates the programme, offered this year for the first time, and pulls in other disciplines whose expertise will augment the analysis of the epidemic in the South African context. For example, one of the coordinators of the programme, Professor Howard Phillips, a medical historian, will be lecturing on Aids in the light of past epidemics and their impact on society. Other participating disciplines include public health and primary health care, UCT's HIV/Aids unit, and the business and commerce faculties.
Head says the students completing the semester-long core course will focus on the social study of HIV/Aids, and can then specialise in electives that include gender, faith, healing, public policy and the national budget.
"We want to encourage working people with relevant experience to take the course, as well as honours graduates with an interest in HIV/Aids. We are looking at a part-time option as well as full-time study, a postgraduate diploma as well as an MPhil," says Head.
"We are getting a good response from doctors, social workers and researchers," says Head. "We want to draw students from within the fields of the media ... and those who develop HIV/Aids learning materials; and from the caring and service professions seeking to understand the social dimension of the epidemic."
She says the aim of the course is to produce graduates who have demonstrated competence in grappling with the theoretical complexities of the HIV/Aids epidemic in the socially differentiated and culturally diverse setting of South Africa.
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