Making sexual and reproductive health & rights real in South Africa: a baseline study of selected sites in four provinces: year 1

Abstract

This report presents insights from a baseline study commissioned by the AIDS Foundation of South Africa (AFSA) as a research package in AFSA's three-year programme (2014-2017) to advance the realisation of Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) in South Africa. AFSA's programme is intended to strengthen SRHR and community-based HIV/AIDS interventions, and to build the evidence base for effective regional responses. The programme is designed to deliver: (1) Strategic support for community-based organisations (CBOs) and national advocacy/policy actors engaged in effective HIV/AIDS and SRHR interventions; (2) Demonstrable improvements in the realisation of SRHR in South Africa; and (3) A measureable contribution to the knowledge and evidence base on HIV/AIDS in the Southern African region (Southern African Development Community (SADC)). The report provides some emerging evidence to inform the work of implementing partners and potentially to assess the outcomes and the mechanisms by which positive changes resulting from the implementation of AFSA's programme have been achieved.