AFRICA
South Africa

The Population Council opened an office in South Africa in 1999, initially to support HIV and AIDS operations research under the US Agency for International Development–funded Horizons program. The program has expanded to include work on reproductive health, gender, and youth. The Council has established new partnerships with other bilateral donors, foundations, the South African government, nongovernmental organizations, and universities.

Program Focus

A strategic plan developed in 2001 has guided the steady expansion of activities focused on five objectives: reducing HIV transmission and mitigating its impact; improving the quality of, access to, and appropriate use of reproductive health services; facilitating successful transitions to adulthood; reducing levels of gender-based violence; and building professional and institutional capacity to conduct research to enhance program performance and policy formulation. These objectives, which respond to some of the most pressing social and health issues in South Africa, are suitably nested within the Council’s overall strategic directions.

Highlights of Past and Present Work

In South Africa, the Population Council:

• Pioneers work with faith-based organizations, and addresses staff nursing dynamics.
• Engages in innovative research in global and local priority areas such as reducing gender-based violence, strengthening post-rape services, integrating family planning and HIV services, and providing pediatric antiretroviral treatment.
• Undertook the first representative panel survey of young people aged 14–24 years. The findings prompted the development of a pilot study to develop social and economic assets and HIV knowledge among poor, AIDS-affected young people in KwaZulu-Natal.
• Managed the Phase 3 microbicide trial of its candidate microbicide, Carraguard®.

Selected Projects

Current Projects

• Sexual and Gender-based Violence in East and Southern Africa (8/06–12/08)

• Integrated Financial and HIV/AIDS Education Project for Young People in KwaZulu-Natal (6/04–12/07)

• Gender, Socioeconomic Status, and Youth HIV Risk (1/04–12/07)

• Transitions to Adulthood in the Context of AIDS (1/99–12/07)

• Family-centered Services for HIV/AIDS-infected Children in South Africa (9/06–8/07)

• FRONTIERS projects

  • Developing an Integrated Model for Post-rape Care and HIV Post-exposure Prophylaxis in Rural South Africa and Expanding Access to Comprehensive Post-rape Services (5/04–3/08)

  • Creating Conditions for Implementing a Province-wide Comprehensive, Evidence-based Antenatal and Postnatal Care Package in KwaZulu-Natal (12/04–12/07)

  • Feasibility, Effectiveness, and Cost of Models of Integrating Counseling and Testing for HIV Within Family Planning Services in South Africa (7/04–12/07)

• Horizons projects

  • Building the Capacity of Faith-based Organizations to Deliver Mutual Monogamy Interventions to Church Members in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa (2/06–7/07)

  • Integrating “Abstinence” and “Be Faithful” (AB) into the Life Skills Program in Mpumalanga Province (2/06–7/07)

  • Different Models of Delivering Antiretroviral Therapy and Integration with Tuberculosis Services in South Africa: A Situation Analysis (7/06–6/07)

  • Evaluation of mothers2mothers in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa (7/06–6/07)

  • A Pilot Community-based Intervention Program to Address the Needs of Elderly Caregivers in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa (3/06–5/07)

Completed Projects

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See Also

• Microbicides

• Contact Information for South Africa

• Publications/Resources on South Africa

• Collaborators in South Africa

• Regional and Multi-country Studies in Africa

• Frontiers in Reproductive Health: South Africa

• Horizons Program for Global Operations Research on HIV/AIDS/STI

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This page updated 28 May 2008

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