Housing for Aids sufferers
2005-04-19 13:52
Pretoria - An HIV/Aids housing policy launched by the department of housing in Pretoria on Tuesday was meant to assist those with the illness and the families and people around them affected by it.
"The policy looks at long-term housing solutions providing housing for those infected by HIV/Aids and the families who need to help them survive and to continue to live after the infected have died," Liz Freud of the health department said at the launch.
Freud's work included co-operating with all the provincial housing departments and civil society on HIV/Aids issues.
With 15% of the Gauteng population HIV-positive, the provincial housing department said it was critical to form a housing sector response to HIV/Aids.
This should consider its socio-economic impact such as child-headed families, dependence on extended families, and the effects on employers.
"We have come to realise that HIV/Aids not only ravages households, but also disrupts the socio-economic system of the country.
"It leads to low productivity at the shop floor level, robs families of breadwinners by rendering them economically inactive thus compounding the problems of poverty," said Godfrey Tsotetsi, chairman of the standing committee for housing in the Gauteng legislature.
Under the housing plan, houses would be built so that those infected and affected by HIV/Aids were near to health care and educational facilities, had access to water and sanitation and had access to community support and home-based care.
- SAPA