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HSRC Annual Report 2016/17
Research highlights
Amagugu Intervention
In the year under review, the HSD team developed Amagugu, an intervention model for increasing HIV disclosure and
parent-led communication about health among HIV-infected parents with HIV-uninfected primary school-aged children.
Innovative strategies are required to support and empower parents affected by HIV and poverty in high prevalence settings
such as South Africa. The Amagugu Intervention is a six-session, home-based intervention, delivered to parents in rural
KwaZulu-Natal, with the aim of increasing parental capacity to disclose their HIV status and offer health education to their
primary school children. The intervention includes information and activities on disclosure, healthcare engagement, and
custody planning. This relatively low-intensity, home-based intervention, delivered by lay counsellors, led to increased
HIV disclosure to children, improvements in mental health for mother and child, and improved healthcare engagement
and custody planning for the child.
The intervention led to an increase in any disclosure and full disclosure using the word“HIV”. Time to full disclosure was
shorter in the intervention group. Other significant results included the fact that more mothers in the intervention group
took their children for a clinic visit, discussed a care plan for their children and appointed a guardian. The Amagugu
Intervention uses a variety of psychological, participatory activities crafted in an accessible and user-friendly way that can
be used by lay professionals. The results of the Amagugu Intervention were presented at two high profile international
conferences and meetings, and published in a high impact public health journal, in the HSRC Review, and in other local
forums. The study has garnered substantial media and public attention. The Amagugu model has been downloaded
over 1 500 times by readers from every continent, and has been widely accessed by researchers across Africa.
Race, Education and Emancipation
The HSRC, in partnership with the University of KwaZulu-Natal, conducted a study on the experience of South African
students of university life, and the centrality of race in their quest for education and emancipation. Over a five-year period,
the study tracked the experience of 80 students from eight South African universities. Participants comprised 66 Black
African, six Coloured, two Indian and six White students, and garnered stories through annual in-depth interviews, a
weblog and student-led interviews with members of the universities and their social networks. Of the cohort, 27 students
graduated, 35 students are still studying, seven left before degree completion, and 11 withdrew from the study or were
untraceable. The single largest success factor for those who graduated, was their parents’ levels of education. Black
students require support in navigating newways of learning, coping with new found freedoms, developing confidence
to speak in class, discuss and debate with lecturers and ask for help, and they need to be unburdened of the desperate
quest for funding for fees and accommodation.
PART B: Performance Overview