It has been 14 years since South Africa ended Apartheid South established a democratic government. Today South Africa has become the wealthiest country in African. However despite South Africa’s apparent economic success, poverty and violence still remain significant issues in the country’s domestic affairs. For example only 82% of the population is literate and over 10% of the population does not have access to safe drinking water.

South Africa has a population of 4,470 million people and has a large diversity of racial and ethnic groups, and having 11 different official languages. South Africa’s long and turbulent political history is the direct cause of many of the on-going domestic problems and issues that South Africa faces today. The harshness of life is reflected in the average life expectancy and the infant mortality rate in South Africa. The average life expectancy of a South African is around 50.8 years. This is a stark contrast to the United Kingdom where is average life expectancy is around 78.8 years. The infant mortality rate in South Africa is 68 deaths for every 1,000 births. This is an extremely high rate in comparison to the United Kingdom, whereas the infant mortality rate is 4.93 deaths for every 1,000 births.

However one of the main and most concerning domestic issue South Africa has is the HIV and AIDS pandemic. In South Africa, 5.3 million people (more than 1 in 5 adults) are living with HIV and AIDS. Oxfam International has being working in South Africa for over 50 years. Oxfam International works continuously to try and combat the HIV and AIDS pandemic.

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/oxfam_in_action/where_we_work/south_africa.html

Oxfam Japan supports a project which is ran by local NGO partners, which focuses on the HIV and AIDS pandemic. The project aims to combat the pandemic by determining what the different contributing factors of the spread of the disease are. For example one aspect of the project is to make information about the prevention and nature of the disease more accessible and available to the local population. Their work also includes tackling the high rate of domestic violence against women (VAW), which is seen as one of the contributing factors in the spread of the HIV and AIDS pandemic.