Wits Business School calls for its student to help fight HIV.
Wits Business School (WBS) hosted a briefing about its innovation challenge which focuses on female HIV/AIDS prevention in Parktown on Wednesday, February 26.
The Reckitt Benckiser WBS innovation competition was launched in January this year and aims to fund Wits business school students’ ideas to the value of R1,5 million to combat community problems concerning HIV/AIDS and safe sex education. The briefing of all the applicants to date was held ahead of the selection of the proposals later this year.
Dr Bhekinkosi Moyo, director of CAPSI (Centre on African Philanthropy and Social Investment), one of the partners in the project, said, “The two-pronged approach [education and access] is critical to delivering meaningful and effective behaviour change in sub-Saharan Africa”.
According to the UNAIDS website, South Africa has one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS infections, with women making up every four out of five people living with this disease.
Addressing the applicants, Moyo empasised the need for the integration of education and access saying, “Education without access to protection is of limited use for solving the region’s sexual health challenges”. He encouraged students to, “be as aggressive as possible; do not be afraid to think out of the box.”
According to the CAPSI website, the winning applicant’s “strategy may be selected among two others to receive full funding for incubation, trial, assessment and implementation.”
WBS students who have applied for the competition have until May 31, 2020, to submit their innovative proposals.
Three applicants will be chosen to present their ideas to a panel of judges to determine the winners.
FEATURED IMAGE: Students of the Wits Business School have the opportunity to get an innovation social development project funded. The students were briefed about the competition at the Wits Business School in Parktown, Johannesburg on Wednesday, February 26. Photo: Emma O’Connor.
