Driven by the impact of HIV and AIDS, a home care strategy was implemented nationally in 2000. This strategy included palliative care education for health professionals, together with a determined drive to raise public awareness of palliative care. Hospice providers played a key role, as Thulie Msane²² indicates:

As government initiated the strategy, there was a need for hospice to train care givers (Rural Health Motivators), civic society, churches and schools in raising awareness of the home-based concept and palliative care concept.

The schools of nursing invited hospice as facilitators on home-based palliative care and students have been trained in the following topics;

•  palliative care concept
•  symptom management
•  death, grief and bereavement
•  pain management
•  home-based palliative care
•  spiritual care
•  HIV/AIDS symptom management

As of June 2003, a total of 4316 people have been trained across a broad range of groups and services (Tables 4 and 5)

Table 4 Personnel trained under the national home-based care strategy 2000-02

Source: Thulie Msane

Table 5 Personnel trained under the national home-based care strategy 2002-03

Source: Thulie Msane