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WC-NACOSA will host a quarterly forum meeting on 23 July 2004 as part of its ongoing campaign to provide interactive platforms for debate on key issues, make available access to treatment and promote increased dialogue between HIV/AIDS service organisations and government.

The theme "Government funding: HIV/AIDS and TB, NGO's and CBO's, What are the current funding processors and crises facing NGO and CBO service providers, key partners in implementation?" will address issues around funding criteria as well as the slow dispensing of funds and the potential for either situation to end a good project.

Interested parties can RSVP Eduardo Meyer at:
+27 (0) 21 425-4308 or Fax +27 (0) 21 421-87 54

The Global Health Council, together with the Programme for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), have published a new training module and guide for service providers, titled "Ensuring Privacy and Confidentiality in Reproductive Health Services".

Protection of privacy and confidential information are critical in the field of HIV/AIDS, where clients can suffer stigma, discrimination and violence from disclosure of their HIV status. Adolescents have been shown to be particularly unwilling to seek needed health services when they fear that confidentiality will not be maintained.

This publication is designed to enable clinic staff, service providers, supervisors and policy-makers to support and protect the rights of clients to privacy and to preserve the confidentiality of their clients' personal information.

The module clearly identifies the steps needed to ensure privacy and confidentiality, providing an opportunity to practice new behaviours that demonstrate respect for the privacy rights of clients, and providing guidance for supervisors in handling breaches of confidentiality.

Access the complete guide at: www.globalhealth.org

The graduate journalism programme of South Africa's Wits University is offering two full-time research fellowships to senior journalists for conducting in-depth critical analysis of the regional media's handling of HIV/AIDS.

The fellowships, offered in partnership with the Perinatal HIV Research Unit (PHRU) for the second year, are designed to provoke critical examination of the media's coverage of the pandemic in southern Africa, with a special focus this year on the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

The fellowship grants will give the journalists the opportunity to undertake longer-term innovative research and writing outside of the newsroom, that will ultimately provoke public debate on the media and HIV/AIDS.

The fellowships provide a four-month full-time work stipend or the equivalent amount over eight months of part-time work. Fellows in full-time employment will be expected to secure a leave of absence for the duration of their research and other duties.

Duties will include design and implementation of the research project, some teaching, and supervision of research assistants.

The deadline for applications is 28 June.
Journalists interested in applying should immediately contact Wits University's Professor Anton Harber for official application forms and a guideline by email on:
or www.journalism.co.za