It is all systems go for the launch of the second phase of the  Siyakhana Project which will intensify its workplace HIV and AIDS support to a further 25 SMEs in Buffalo City municipal area this year.

On Monday 28 July 2008, project partners, existing clients and prospective clients will gather to hear about this innovative internationally recognised project’s achievements.

 The project is run under the auspices of the Siyakhana Health Trust, a non-profit organisation jointly founded by Mercedes-Benz South Africa, the Border-Kei Chamber of Business and a German development agency DEG (Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH) and assists companies address the pandemic through comprehensive primary health care for their employees and dependants which includes access to quality HIV counselling and testing and HIV and AIDS treatment and support.

In June Mercedes-Benz South Africa (MBSA) received a Global Business Coalition on HIV and AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GBC) commendation for its role in the Siyakhana Project at a gala dinner in New York.
“During Siyakhana’s two year pilot phase 17 companies participated and their staff and dependants received voluntary counselling and the opportunity to test. Of the 4 717 employees who went through the programme, 3 129 took the test and 272 tested positive,” Siyakhana’s project manager Dr Simeon Odugwu said.

“We invite SMEs with 50 to 300 employees to make contact with us so that we can assist them with their response to addressing HIV and AIDS in their workplaces. Typically smaller companies have neither the financial nor human resources to run workplace programmes and the Siyakhana Project offers an affordable company wide programme. Small and medium sized companies are only required to pay a nominal annual fee to participate,” he said. Initially housed at the Border-Kei Chamber of Business’ offices in Southernwood, the Siyakhana Project now has its own premises also in St George’s Road.

By having its own premises the project hopes to improve access to spouses and dependants to its services.

“We are finding that spouses and children are not accessing the project in the way we envisaged and there are a number of complex factors that account for this, not least of all poor communication patterns, denial and stigma,” Dr Odugwu said.

The Siyakhana project will also intensify raising awareness of the interrelationship between tuberculosis and risks of contracting HIV into its VCT programme. 

 “Amathole District has been identified as a crisis area when it comes to incidence of multiple drug resistant (MDR) and extreme drug resistant (XDR) tuberculosis. People with compromised immune systems are far more likely to become HIV positive if exposed to the virus,” he said.

The project achieved benchmark status at the 16^th World Congress on HIV and AIDs in Toronto in 2006, has featured as a case study in several forums overseas including a Global Business Coalition Special Conference on HIV and AIDS in Russia in October 2007 and will be show-cased at the 17^th World Aids Conference in Mexico in August 2008. It has also received accolades for its holistic and partnership approach with partnerships spanning business, local and provincial government, national and international donors.