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Netherlands Ministry visits eThekwini Trucking Wellness Centre
October 8, 2008 marked the official opening of the eThekwini Trucking Wellness Centre (ETWC) situated at the Engen Marianhill Truck Stop in Pinetown. This Wellness Centre provides truck drivers in the road freight industry with free access to Primary Health Care and HIV testing and management.
Minister Frank Heemskerk Minister for Foreign Trade lead a delegation from the Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs, together with representatives from the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Pretoria, who visited the ETWC at Pinetown, eThekwini Municipality on 12 May 2009. They were welcomed by the Deputy - Mayor of eThekwini Municipality, Councillor Logie Naidoo.
Thereafter the delegates adjourned to the Hilton Centre for a presentation by eThekwini Municipality. Frank Burgers, managing director for CMRA, gave a brief presentation on the CMRA activities and expressed his pleasure in seeing the ETWC now fully operational.
Dr Ayo Olowolagba, Deputy Head of Communicable Diseases & Acting Head of Clinical Services at eThekwini Municipality, thanked the Netherlands government for funding the Decentralised Response to HIV & AIDS project. He highlighted that the ETWC is the first and the only trucking wellness centre of its kind operating at eThekwini addressing the HIV and AIDS pandemic among truck drivers. He added that “wellness centre caters for more that 500 truck drivers, who travel monthly between Durban and Johannesburg, and also beyond the borders of South Africa.” The wellness centre is operational from 18h00 to 24.00 from Monday to Friday.
Minister Heemskerk said that the Dutch government through its cooperation development program contributed R20 million to six provinces across SA and hopes that the municipalities will disseminate information and experience on projects through the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) website. SALGA and the Netherlands Government have established a website for municipalities to share knowledge and experience. Minister Heemskerk added that “the Dutch were satisfied with the end result of the wellness centre.”
The eThekwini Health Unit Head, Dr Nomakhosi Ggxagxisa said that the ETWC has already seen a number of truck drivers since it opened and this model is the first of its kind to be spearheaded by the municipality nationally.
Deputy Mayor Logie Naidoo said ‘the Wellness Centre’s proximity to the N3 promotes accessibility to the truck drivers. This is a great project, because it contributes to the well being of the truck drivers and this has positive impact on the economy of our region. The health of the drivers is essential as it creates economic sustainability”, added Naidoo.
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BCM spearheads the mainstreaming of cross cutting issues
By Sinazo Mgwigwi
The partnership between Buffalo City Municipality (BCM) and the Centre for Municipal Research and Advice (CMRA) has culminated into a pilot project that seeks to improve access to information and services especially on HIV and AIDS to People with Disabilities (PwD).
The pilot has translated into renovating three pilot clinics, Cambridge, John Dube in Scenery Park and Berlin and the placement of Sign Language Interpreters to assist the nurses to communicate with deaf patients.
This pilot is the first of its kind in South African Municipalities and puts BCM in the fore front of the mainstreaming of cross cutting issues. Deaf people will now be able to go to these clinics on specially allocated days or send text messages to interpreters to meet them at the clinics when they are not well.
The initiative was welcomed by nurses who were trained on a number of useful skills (e.g. how to teach a blind person or physically impaired person to put a condom on correctly).
Through this project, specialised equipment has been purchased in the Central Library to assist the Blind and Partially Blind to read from the books in the library by voice activation software, type their own CVs and documents and print them in Braille. This facility was formally launched on the 6th of June 2008 at the library where the then Minister of Communications, the late Dr. Ivy Matsepe Casaburri, applauded the City on the venture via a telephone conference during the event.
A forum, the Interdepartmental Forum, has also been set up to assist with mainstreaming in all BCM departments and to serve as a communication platform between departments to improve service delivery.
For more information on this project please contact Sinazo Mgwigwi on 043-705 1995 or sinazom@buffalocity.gov.za.
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| CMRA hosts Local AIDS Councils Stakeholders Seminar
On the 24th and 25th of February 2009, eThekwini Metro in collaboration with the Centre for Municipal Research and Advice (CMRA), hosted the Local AIDS Council stakeholders seminar. At this seminar the seven participating municipalities from the CMRA 'Decentralised Response to HIV& AIDS in South Africa' project, shared lessons on their structures and functionality since CMRA‘s involvement. The project is funded by the Royal Netherlands Embassy (RNE) in South Africa.
In this seminar LAC structures interacted with support structures from both the National and Provincial spheres of government. The South African National AIDS Council (SANAC), Provincial Councils on AIDS from North West, Limpopo, Kwa Zulu Natal and Eastern Cape provinces and the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) shared thoughts and policy frameworks to be used as guidelines to address HIV and AIDS issues at the local level through partnerships with LACs.
In his key note the Honorable Executive Mayor of eThekwini Municipality, Councillor Mlaba highlighted the challenges that AIDS councils are facing, including difficulty with budgeting and spending funds where needs are identified by the AIDS Councils. He further concluded that “African Renaissance calls on all of us to work with our Traditional Healer Practitioners & House of Traditional Leadership. These two components are crucial in the fight against HIV & AIDS”.
The legal perspective concerning LACs was discussed and this brought about concerns that the LACs are functioning outside the legal framework of the country. It was concluded that a round table discussion would be held with the pilot municipalities on the functionality of the LACs in relation to the legal framework in addressing HIV and AIDS at local level.
Amongst the challenges echoed by the participants were the lack of support by both the Provincial and National Aids Councils. There is a general concern about the lack of resources to sustain the LACs activities in the municipalities. There is also the issue of the questionable status of the LACs for an effective advisory role.
By using the National Strategic Plan (NSP) 2007-2011 as the key guide to address HIV and AIDS issues at a local level, all municipalities attest to a positive multi-sectoral partnership.
For more information on the event, good practices and lessons learnt, or to obtain a copy of the seminar report, contact Pertunia Mothiba, Project Officer on Pmothiba@cmra.co.za or 012 347 3848.
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Signing of MoU SALGA - VNG - VNG International
On January 16, 2009, a renewed cooperation agreement was signed between SALGA (South African Local Government Association), VNG (Association of Netherlands Municipalities) and VNG-International (the International Cooperation Agency of the VNG). SALGA and VNG-International have worked together for more than 10 years in different fields but this new MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) gives some of the fields of cooperation a more formal status and it makes the different cooperation programs more explicit.
CMRA also forms a part of the MoU. In the MoU, SALGA and VNG-International acknowledge CMRA and its mission. All 3 organisations are committed to working with CMRA whenever relevant and possible.
For more information on this topic feel free to contact the Managing Director of CMRA Mr. Frank Burgers at fburgers@cmra.org.za.
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Second Benchmarking Municipal Responses to HIV&AIDS meeting takes place
The second Benchmarking Municipal Responses to HIV and AIDS meeting took place in Madibeng from the 3rd to the 5th of February, 2009. IDP Managers and HIV and AIDS Coordinators from 10 local municipalities from across South Africa met to discuss their individual municipal responses to HIV and AIDS. The HIV and AIDS pandemic has forced municipalities to mainstream their response to the disease, as well as to realign their internal programs to counteract the internal effects of HIV and AIDS on municipalities functioning.
The municipalities had the opportunity to exchange ideas and discuss challenges during benchmark workshops. Furthermore, IDP and Gender specialists addressed the municipalities on how to integrate HIV into the phases of the IDP and how to respond to HIV and AIDS from a gender perspective.
The final stage of the Benchmarking Municipal Responses to HIV and AIDS project will culminate with a National Conference, to which other local and district municipalities will be invited.
For more information on this project please contact Marije Versteeg at mversteeg@cmra.org.za
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