'Buddies' offer emotional support

When Fatima Sayed (not her real name), an HIV-positive mother, is feeling down she knows she can pick up the phone and call her 'buddy', Amina Nordien, who signed up as a volunteer friend and mentor to Muslims living with the virus in Cape Town, South Africa.

Caring for abandoned HIV-positive babies

Mavis Samuels is part of the uMephi project (Zulu for 'To take shame away'), a national programme that searches for adoptive or foster parents for abandoned babies, many of whom are HIV-positive and have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS.

Project empowers rural communities to shape own HIV/AIDS programmes

A new project by South African NGO, the Centre for HIV/AIDS Networking (HIVAN), will enable rural communities across the country to develop their own programmes to deal with the impact of HIV/AIDS.

Hospice helps patient come to terms with HIV/AIDS

Fifteen years ago, Masindy Apie went to the doctor for what she thought was a sexually transmitted disease. Her doctor tested her blood and told her that she had HIV/AIDS and three months to live.

Getting tested: A New Start

The Society for Family Health (SFH) has launched a social marketing campaign for Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) aimed at changing the perception that HIV testing is only for the sick and encouraging all South Africans to regularly test for HIV.

A circle of giving

Community Outreach volunteers attached to HIVANs Campus HIV/AIDS Support Unit at the University of KwaZulu-Natals Howard College campus held a fundraising event over two days in May 2005. Over R1 500 was collected from the sale of raffle tickets for patients and families at McCord Hospitals Sinikithemba Care Centre, and more than 15 bags of clothing were donated to the Hillcrest AIDS Trust Centre for their income-generation scheme.

Intersect Coalition Womens Festival: Linking Hands for Change

The 9 August is National Womens Day in South Africa. The KwaZulu-Natal Intersect Coalition which is being spearheaded by the KZN Network on Violence Against Women plans to host a womens celebration taking place at the Kings Park Soccer Stadium in which women will engage each other (and men) in activities like live musical, drama, poetry and story telling and etc.

HIV-positive children reach out to their peers in a new book

South African children will soon be able to learn about HIV/AIDS from a book written by their HIV-positive peers. Two NGOs in KwaZulu-Natal are working on an as yet untitled publication, in which children explain the progression of the disease in their own words.

Halala! CINDI - Looking Back Living Forward

CINDI Members have been working together for 10 years to address the needs of vulnerable children in the context of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in KwaZulu-Natal.

Do you know your HIV status?

Do you know your HIV status? Many people are still unable to answer 'yes' to this important question. A pioneering South African programme called 'New Start' sets out to change that.