Empower women to end HIV/AIDS stigma, South Africa

Summary

Stigma is a serious stumbling block in the fight against AIDS. Positive Women’s Network helps women, who are often ignored or blamed for the infection, to support themselves and their families.

What is the issue, problem, or challenge?

South Africa has the unfortunate distinction of the country with the highest HIV-prevalence in the world. Stigma, lack of knowledge about accessing treatment, and gender inequity has left positive women in a precarious position. It’s estimated that of the five million people living with HIV in South Africa, 60% are women. The first step in turning the AIDS crisis around is to educate and empower women in the townships and rural areas through a network of support groups and treatment access.

How will this project solve this problem?

Positive Women’s Network provides for HIV-positive women by creating support groups in townships; providing counseling; conducting workshops on treatment literacy, reproductive health and nutrition; and creating income generating projects for women.

Potential Long Term Impact

PWN currently manages 10 support groups. Due to their success, urban and rural communities want to start their own groups. Because of PWN, hundreds of women accessed treatment and manage their HIV while learning skills to support their families.

Project Message

“We will go anywhere, we will do anything to survive…and we fight for anti-retro viral drugs because we have seen the drugs change people’s lives.”
- Prudence Mabele, Director, Positive Women’s Network

Additional Documentation

This project has provided additional documentation in a Microsoft Word file (projdoc.doc).

Resources