Men in HIV/AIDS Partnership POLICY and DOH (October 2003)  Full Document (English)      Order for free      email to me  In October 2002, under the slogan "South African Men Care Enough to Act", a National Men's Imbizo was held bringing some 400 men together from around the country to bring awareness to the need for men's involvement in HIV/AIDS. At this meeting, an Interim National Task Team was elected as a first organizational step towards the formation of a broad-based countrywide men's forum. Coordinating the responses of the men's sector is considered paramount to developing effective strategies in the four priority areas identified in the HIV/AIDS and STD Strategic Plan for South Africa (2000-2005): • Prevention • Treatment, care and support • Human and legal rights, and • Research, monitoring and evaluation In February 2003, following the Imbizo, a meeting was held between the Government AIDS Action Plan (national and provincial structures), the USAID-funded POLICY Project and the men’s sector national working group to plan the next steps. Based on outcomes of the Imbizo (see South African Men Care Enough to Act: Report on the National Men's Imbizo on HIV/AIDS, 2002) the decision was made to further engage the men's sector through a series of consultative workshops at the provincial level. These would follow on from provincial report-back meetings held after the Imbizo, strengthening the involvement of men in HIV/AIDS activities. The workshops would, as part of the government's broader Partnership Against AIDS programme, create a solid platform for discussion and collaboration in the men's sector. Through the establishment of provincially-coordinated men's networks, it is hoped this crucial sector will begin to play a more constructive, holistic and influential role in rising to the social and cultural challenges presented by HIV/AIDS. Provincial workshops would provide the men with an opportunity to develop coherent plans to guide their actions as individuals, as groups, and as partners with other sectors. This report documents the process and outcomes of these provincial meetings.