The Buffalo City Aids Training Information and Counselling Centre (ATICC) aims to reduce the spread of HIV infection in the region, reduce the personal and social impact to HIV/Aids for people living with Aids, their families and communities and to mobilise the community and community resources.

The centre offers training (eg Aids counselling, peer education skills) and education services that are available to all individuals and organisations within Buffalo City. The ATICC staff is uniquely equipped to give advice on a range of issues relating to HIV/Aids and are trained in counselling.

Postal address:
P.O. Box 673
East London, 5200

Physical address:
30 Beaconsfield Road,
East London

Telephone: (043) 705-2968/9
Fax: (043) 743-9743
email: atic@iafrica.com

ATICC manager
Mrs N. Feliti
Telephone: (043) 705-2969

Health educator
Bethuel Tyali
Telephone: (043) 705-2966

Aids educator
Ngeziwe Zitshu
Telephone: (043) 705-2965

Health educator
Mr. M. Namba
Telephone: (043) 705-2970

The Buffalo City Aids Training and Information Centre, formerly known as East London ATICC, was established in 1990 as a joint initiative of the then Department of National Health and Population Development and the East London Municipality. The department agreed to fund the ATICC on a 100% subsidy and, in return, the East London Municipality agreed that the centre could extend its function beyond the municipal boundaries to perform a regional function. From 1990 to 1993, ATICC's function extended from the Ciskei border in the east to the Transkei border in the west, and from the coast to the Orange River. In 1993, the Queenstown ATICC was established, effectively halving the north-south operational area of the East London ATICC.

With the incorporation of the former homelands into South Africa in 1994, the function and boundaries of the ATICCs became blurred, but in 1995 the Eastern Cape Provincial Department of Health designated the ATICCs as regional offices for HIV/Aids and Sexually Transmitted Diseases. East London ATICC, with the authority of the East London Transitional Local Council (TLC), became responsible for co-ordinating the HIV/Aids/STD Programme in Health Region C of the Eastern Cape.

Goals and objectives
ATICC goals in terms of the national HIV/Aids/STD programme:

• This [Health Region C] being the entire Amathole Health District.
• Reduction of the spread of HIV infection in Health Region C of the Eastern Cape Province;
• Reduction of the personal and social impact of HIV/Aids for people living with Aids, their families, and communities; and
• Mobilisation of communities and community resources.

Operationalising the goals in a regional setting Buffalo City ATICC considers that the most effective method of operationalising the goals in a regional setting is to provide a vertical support mechanism for horizontal, district-based programmes, viz: building capacity at district and organisational level in order that HIV/Aids/STD education, training, care and support can take place at these levels and thereby "horizontalise" them.

Lack of infrastructure and funding at these levels has hampered this process but ATICC has achieved some degree of success in that the District Health Services of Region C now deliver HIV/Aids/STD training, education and counselling largely independently of ATICC.

Co-ordination of district-based HIV/Aids/STD programmes:

• Face-to-face contact with district health managers and HIV/Aids programme managers;
• Regional strategic planning meetings;
• Written communication relating to new advances in HIV/Aids, reports, minutes of meetings and conferences, and communiqués from the provincial and national HIV/Aids/STD programmes;
• Involvement of districts in ATICC activities; and
• Submission of quarterly and annual reports from the regional HIV/Aids/STD programme to the provincial and national departments of health.

Advocacy, liaison and linking of programmes

• Linking of programmes at district, regional, provincial, and national level; and
• Liaison with and support of district-based programmes.

Training

• Training is offered twice or three times a year to district representatives in aspects of HIV/Aids education, care and support (eg counselling, train-the-trainer, gender violence and Aids, STD syndromic management, etc).

Support for and co-ordination of special projects

• ACTIVE youth project in all districts: a peer education project in high schools;
• Peer education for out-of-school youth in all districts;
• Safer sex (condom) workshops in all districts;
• Human-rights training for health-care workers in all districts;
• Industry package in all districts; and
• Prison programme in all districts: a peer education programme for prisoners.

Apart from the above, the ATICC provides the following services in Buffalo City alone:

• HTA (High Transmission Areas) project in East London: a sex-worker peer education project;
• TB/HIV Pilot Project in East London: provision of voluntary counselling and testing and prophylaxis against TB, pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, and toxoplasmosis in HIV positive persons;
• Home-based care project in East London;
• In-service training on HIV/Aids for health care workers in East London;
• Clinic-based HIV/Aids education in East London;
• Income-generating project for people living with Aids in King William's Town;
• Training in peer education, Aids counselling and STD management to all groups in the community.

Relationship between ATICC and structures

The following is a summary of ATICC relationships with the various structures in place to deal with HIV/Aids:
National HIV/Aids/STD programme
ATICC operationalises goals and participates in strategic planning.

Provincial HIV/Aids/STD programme
Province funds ATICC; ATICC reports regularly on progress; ATICC participates in strategic planning; ATICC conforms to goals of province.

District health departments and their respective health services
See Elements of vertical support

East London Municipality
Employer of ATICC staff and agency for administration of ATICC budget; management of the day-to-day activities of the ATICC staff.

Regional non-governmental organisations
ATICC responsible for mobilisation around HIV/Aids/STDs and related issues; NGOs participate in regional strategic planning and ATICC operations and projects; ATICC consulted on funding of regional NGOs by the province; ATICC involved in training of NGO members;

District/local NGOs and community-based organisations
Participate in district-based committees around HIV/Aids and related issues; involved in ATICC special projects; ATICC involved in training of NGO and community-based organisation members.

Civic structures
As for district/local NGOs and community-based organisations.

Funding of ATICC and regional HIV/Aids/STD programme
The Buffalo City ATICC and all of the ATICCs in the Eastern Cape are funded with a 100% subsidy from the provincial Department of Health.

What ATICC can offer you/your organisation
The ATICC has the following services to offer to individuals and organisations in the Buffalo City community:

• Training
  - Training in HIV/Aids counselling: A 10-day course that is filled on a first-come-first-served basis. Nominations can be made by telephone, after which the nominee must complete an application form and present for a pre-course interview. This training is carried out according to the minimum standards for HIV/Aids counselling as laid down by the national Department of Health. Anyone may attend this training provided they are prepared to counsel following the training as certificates are only awarded after a period of assessment in the field. Courses are held at regular intervals throughout the year.
  - Training in HIV/Aids peer education skills: A five-day course that is aimed at youth groups, prisons, and private enterprise. Participants are drawn from the pool of prison staff, prisoners, youth, shop stewards, team leaders, etc. The purpose of the course is to build capacity for participants to educate their peers about HIV/Aids. Courses are arranged according to need.
  - Training in syndromic management of STDs: A five-day course that trains participants to administer syndromic treatment to patients suffering from STDs. The course is aimed at professional nurses only. Courses are held at regular intervals throughout the year.
  - Training for the administration of the HIV rapid test: Courses are held twice a year and are aimed at professional nurses. The course runs for three to four hours.

• Education
  - One-on-one information, given telephonically and/or face-to-face. This service is entirely confidential and clients may make enquiries by telephone without having to supply their names.
  - Mass education sessions can also be arranged, but are not recommended for groups exceeding 50 people as the benefit of addressing larger groups is limited. Larger organisations should consider training one of their own in peer education skills (see above).
  - Educational promotions are held in partnership with various groups on three or four occasions a year. ATICC staff can also participate in additional promotion activities, on written request.

  Please note: Written invitations to ATICC staff are to reach the office one week before the event in the case of East London, and two weeks before in the case of events outside East London.

• Counselling
  Face-to-face counselling (by appointment) and telephonic counselling is carried out at ATICC. Self-referrals and referrals by private medical practitioners are accepted. Clients who have been counselled at their place of work or at a health centre or clinic are encouraged to continue their counselling there for the following reasons:
  - The client already has a relationship with the staff at the health centre or clinic.
  - The clinic staff is easily accessible to the client.
  ATICC will not accept referrals without the consent of the client concerned and/or before the client has been informed of his/her result by the person who drew the blood for the HIV test. Referral of the client to ATICC without consent is a breach of confidentiality. Referral without first informing the client of the result is unfair as the client has no relationship with the ATICC staff and this has been found to affect the client's ability to accept his/her HIV status.

• Advisory service
  The ATICC staff is uniquely equipped to give advice on a range of issues relating to HIV/Aids (eg breach of the client's legal/human/constitutional rights, life insurance, preparing an employment policy for HIV/Aids, management of opportunistic infections, antiretroviral therapy, etc). Referrals can be made to an appropriate agency should the issue fall outside the staff's bailiwick.

• Workplace package
  This is an education/training package consisting of the following:
  - Management presentation that is designed to give information as to the current status of the South African epidemic, the projected impact on businesses, and the steps towards the designing and implementation of a workplace policy and programme for HIV/Aids;
  - Counselling training for selected staff (eg occupational health personnel, human resources personnel);
  - Peer education skills training for shop stewards, foremen, team leaders, etc;
  - Mass education for employees;
  - Free condom distribution;male and female
  - Distribution of small media such as pamphlets, booklets and posters.
  

---