Public Service in South Africa at a High Risk of Contracting AIDS

According to the study conducted by the Public Service Commission (PSC) it was shocking to find that a large number of public servants believe HIV/AIDS is curable. More than 40% of public service respondents who ere surveyed fall in to the category of very high risk in contracting the disease.

If they are measured on a scale from one to five, with five indicating that the disease could be cured. It was surprising that more than half of the people averaged more than two in the scale. The survey covered five provinces the Northern Cape, Mpumalanga, Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. It also coved a number of national government departments. Due to a large number of people thinking that it can be cured increased the risk of the disease.

The survey also concluded that there is a greater need for HIV/AIDS training, education and awareness programmes. The survey identified their perceptions on issues like precaution, whether they believed HIV/AIDS could be cured, and whether infection was preventable. The high risk groups have to be introduced to awareness programmes and monitoring their outcome in order to lessen the impact of HIV/AIDS on the public service. About one third of departments had no policies or programmes on the prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections, and HIV/AIDS infection control.