For three days starting on Monday March 11, organisations and individuals working in the filed of child abuse are gathering in Parliament to provide evidence on the sexual abuse of children. The hearings follow last year's high number of child rapes that were reported in the media. The public hearings, which take place in Cape Town, have been organised by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Social Development. In this audio report in English and Sesotho, the committee's chairperson Cas Saloojee, talks about the intentions of these hearings.

"Child abusers are not people who sit in a dirty park somewhere" -clinical social workers. The sexual abuse of a child often happens over a long time before signs that a child is experiencing trauma are picked up. In this focus on child abuse, we find out what behavioural patterns to watch out for in a child to realise if they have been abused. We also hear what impact sexual abuse has on children, what help is at hand and what encourages this abuse on our children to flourish.

NAPWA, the National Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS, has called on government to make available a social grant of R1 000 to people who are ill and unfit to work as a result of AIDS. In a memorandum addressed to the Minister of Social Development Zola Skweyiya, dated 22 February 2002, NAPWA demands as part of this intervention, that government provides food security or vouchers to unemployed people living with HIV/AIDS. It says once the social grant has been approved, the processing of applications must take no longer than one month. Elaine Maane, co-ordinator of the Western Cape office of NAPWA explains why they're making this call.

South Africa is working against the clock to complete two applications for money from the $2-billion Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria, Health Minister Dr Manto Tshablala-Msimang announced on Tuesday.

The Minister of Social Development Dr Zola Skweyiya, made a sobering admission in an interview with Health-e when he categorically said the government doesn't have enough money to deal with the problem presented by the growing number of orphans in South Africa. Skweyiya attributes this lack of financial resources to a growth in need that far outstrips the money available to deal with them. He says the government relies heavily on NGOs and business to create a sustainable plan to deal with the crisis.

There is keen interest from top management in the programme, and a desire to see a gradual expansion of PMTCT sites. The existence of an experienced medical doctor as part of the management team is a strength. At regional and site level, management appears to be much weaker with a great deal of tension between roleplayers.

Beleaguered health minister Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has labelled as '€œcompletely untrue'€ a newspaper report which claimed she had re-opened the '€œdoes HIV cause AIDS'€ debate'€ at a recent ANC caucus meeting. And in another development a detailed evaluation of the 18 prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) pilot sites will be released this week, and may clear up much of the confusion around the technical issues hampering the immediate roll-out of the programme.