Sunday Times, South Africa - Sunday, April 25, 1999
Prega Govender

A shocking 88 of the 385 students who took the saliva test were found to be HIV-positive - and 65 of the 88 are women.

At an urgent meeting of the university council last Saturday, it was unanimously agreed that the university would pay for blood tests for any student who wanted one.

The university's vice-chancellor, Professor Mapule Ramashala, and deputy vice-chancellor, Dr Simon Kekana, urged the students who took part in the survey to have blood tests and engage in safe sex.

At an upcoming senate meeting, Ramashala will table a proposal calling for AIDS education to become a compulsory part of the university's curriculum.

As part of its AIDS initiative, the university has also invited Gauteng High Court Judge Edwin Cameron - who this week publicly disclosed that he has AIDS - to address students.

While acknowledging that irresponsible attitudes to sex on campus have to be changed, the university has also resolved to install condom-dispensing machines on campus.

Kiru Naidoo, the university's director of public affairs, said the survey showed that the university was not an "ivory tower" immune to the everyday problems facing the rest of society.

Naidoo said the study was commissioned by the university's registrar, Professor Alan Brimer, following a council meeting last November.

"Random, anonymous saliva tests were conducted by the university's resident doctor and the samples were sent to a laboratory for analysis," he said.

Naidoo said the university was determined to undertake further HIV studies to get a more accurate profile of HIV infection on campus.

"But we are satisfied that the results give us some sort of indication of the extent of infection," he said.

Another KwaZulu-Natal university, the University of Natal, has also commissioned a study on HIV and AIDS.

Professor Alan Whiteside, director of health and HIV and AIDS research, said the university "had the foresight to commission a study looking at the potential impact of AIDS on the university. The study is in draft form and we will be sharing the results and methodology with other institutions in due course. For the purpose of this study, it was not necessary to test students or staff."

Professor Alan Smith from the University of Natal's virology department, said saliva testing had proved to be fairly accurate. "Although it may not be as accurate as blood tests, when the testing is done on a fairly large number of subjects it's enough to get statistically valid results," he said.

Alarmed at the spread of AIDS on campuses, a body controlling the country's 36 public universities and technikons has sent out a circular asking members to outline how they are dealing with the disease.
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