HIV and AIDS are often seen as being a problem only in certain sectors of the population. In fact, it is a crisis that affects us all. It is estimated that between 5 million and 7.5 million South Africans are infected with HIV.
As many as 600 people die of AIDS every day in SA alone. As the disease continues to spread at an alarming rate, it carries dire consequences for SA as a nation - socially and economically.
While government's initiative to provide antiretroviral drugs to all who need them is a crucial move in the right direction, there remains a lot to do in terms of prevention, the most cost-effective, humane solution to the problem long term.
Business has a crucial role to play in the prevention of HIV and AIDS, but many companies are not accepting the challenge or the responsibility. Several mining companies have introduced advanced and effective HIV and AIDS prevention and treatment programmes, but there is a large variance among the remainder of companies in terms of these programmes. Some do a little, some do nothing at all: many do not even know their prevalence rate which speaks to the relatively low priority that it has been given at too many companies. These employers are at great financial risk and uncertainty as their staff begin to fall ill, as they will have to foot the bill for the resulting medical claims, absenteeism and drop in productivity.
Government has not shown the will so far to really put the HIV and AIDS problem where it belongs: as a number one priority for the country. Fighting the disease should be at the top of the list when it comes to mobilising the national and budget allocation. In addition, government should be legislating minimum standards for employers in terms of prevention programmes: business should be required by law to report on prevalence and what initiatives they are undertaking to fight and/or treat the disease.
In the absence of these measures and this pressure from outside, business must take it upon itself to act - as many of the mining houses have done, even supplying antiretroviral drugs to staff - to ensure that staff are as prepared as possible to stave off infection. And here, information technology can help.
IT, and especially e-learning, has many advantages over other kinds of learning. It can be successfully used by an individual, but can also be effectively combined with conventional classroom training and printed materials. Most importantly, with e-learning, learners can go at their own pace and backtrack as often as necessary.
However, as any smoker will tell you, to know the facts about a dangerous activity is not enough. What is that crucial, extra step that is needed to actually make people consider changing their behaviour? In the HIV and AIDS context, what is needed to make a person stop having unprotected sex, to make them insist on using a condom? How do we get people to undergo HIV testing so they can know their status and can act appropriately?
The Skills2Learn HIV/AIDS e-learning software works on the basic principles of personal behaviour modification. Its entertaining storyline takes the learner through a number of possible scenarios, offering different options, showing different outcomes and rewarding learners when they make the right choices. It dispels powerful and harmful myths and gives the learners the responses they need when others try to talk them into potentially destructive behaviour - such as engaging in unprotected sex or sleeping with multiple partners. Designed to include the latest findings of African HIV/AIDS studies such as the UNAids and input from psychologists and AIDS advisers, the software has been designed to not only educate and inform, but most importantly, to influence them to consider behaviour change.
The storyline and content is specifically constructed to define and encourage correct behavioural choices by multiple appeals to personal, self-esteem values; familial values; tribal and/or community values and peer group values. These have all been shown to affect behaviour. At the same time the learner is armed with various appropriate defence mechanisms to ensure that correct choices continue to be the norm in spite of unfriendly environments.
This software is the brainchild of people who are concerned about HIV and AIDS in SA, and are committed to finding solutions. E-learning is a format that has proved itself in other learning areas. With its ability to reach anyone, anywhere who can work a mouse, the simple yet powerful medium of e-learning can change lives - and, in the case of HIV and AIDS, help save them.
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Skills2Learn, a provider of world-class e-learning courseware and services, serves its worldwide customers' e-learning systems requirements completely, consistently and affordably, leading its staff and suppliers in achieving this goal. It is dedicated to increasing the quality, reliability, performance and value of its e-learning products and services on an ongoing basis.
Skills2Learn strives to positively impact the global communities where it conducts business, in particular assisting the disadvantaged in their quest to compete in the digital revolution. It brings best-of-breed learning tools to emerging markets at a price and value that makes mass access possible.
Together with US-based In2ition, Skills2Learn specialises in IT-intensive educational courseware, as well as soft skills training, delivered in a variety of electronic formats. It also provides learning management systems to assist in tracking and managing employee progress through the training process.
Skills2Learn has recently released a South African first HIV/AIDS e-learning program, in an interactive story format, concentrating on behavioural modification as well as education.
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