South African Peer Educators Association

Xoliswa Makhaye – Occupational Health Specialist

Coming together of Peer Educators

The first ever meeting was held in August 2010

Provincial Networking Committee

Launch of SAPEA in 2012

ABOUT THE ASSOCIATION

Guided by the belief that every life has equal value and rights in the workplace SAPEA aims to work in assisting our friends, colleagues and society to lead healthy and informed productive lives.

MissionSAPEA aims to bring together peer educators working in the South African workplaces in unifying the response on the management of HIV/AIDS STI’s and TB 

Vision-SAPEA aims to promote a healthy and stigma free workforce to service and grow the South African Economy 

Provincial Events

KZN has approx 250 registered Peer Educators

Three Capacity Building Workshops have been held in KZN this year

The plan is to visit all the 11 Districts

Role of Peer Educators in the Workplace

Accept and respect Train and support Pass on the information Assist in the distribution of

condoms Serve as a bridge between Health

Center and the employee Ever available source of information

Community Outreach

What Peer Educators should not do

Discriminate/Stigmatize Decide for employees Judge/interrogate/blame the

employee Preach or lecture Make empty promises Impose their own beliefs and values

Role for Peer Educators re-PSP

Reduction of risky behaviors Groundwork Collaborative Relation Sustainable Capacity Building Serve as change agents Serve as role models Assist the companies to remain cost

effective

TB in KwaZulu Natal KZN has the highest burden of diseases

associated with underdevelopment and poverty in the country, these diseases include HAST

According to WHO estimates, SA ranks the third in the World in terms of the TB Burden

KwaZulu-Natal has the highest number of TB infections in the country. TB is the leading cause of mortality in the province,

HIV in SOUTH AFRICA

TOTAL POPULATION OF 48 MILLION

6,5 MILLION ARE INFECTED WITH HIV/AIDS

INFECTION RATE OF 22% (22 OUT OF 100)

1 800 new infections each day

1 063 deaths each day due to HIV

HIV

WO

RK

PLA

CE P

OLIC

Y

Creating Conducive Environment

Closure

In closing, the peer Educators want to be agents of change that we all want to see in our Province

Our role as we are seated here this morning is to create an enabling environment in the workplace for them to assist us all in achieving our goals.