HIV/Aids policy

Abstract

In approaching and addressing HIV/Aids, policies should play a major role in orchestratingthe country’s attempt to fight the pandemic. Policies on the HIV/Aids issue are mainlyformulated at national and provincial levels and there are supposed to be instructiveand applicable at local level. Therefore, in this paper, we focus on the communicationbetween provincial and local levels with regard to the HIV/Aids policy in general and thepolicy documents in particular. Thus, our objectives are the following: to describe a few theories briefly in order toprovide a theoretical perspective on policy; to discuss the South African policy onHIV/Aids and the Aids council system in the North-West; to describe the situation atlocal and provincial levels, with the local level envisaged as the site where policy isimplemented; and to provide insights into the way in which communication is workingor not working between provincial and local levels, as far as effective policy formulationand implementation are concerned. The findings confirm that there is a large gap between the provincial and local levels.Within the district of Potchefstroom, the knowledge, interpretation and meaning ofprovincial policy documents are varied and fragmentary. Although a policy is perceivedto be a guideline for the Local Aids Council (LAC), most organisations, represented onthe LAC, do not experience governmental policy as a guideline for their HIV/Aidsprogrammes and activities.