Empower Women to End HIV/AIDS Stigma, South Africa

read updates from the field

See all photos

Summary

The Positive Women’s Network helps HIV-positive women, who are often ignored or blamed for their infections, to support themselves and their families and fight against the AIDS stigma in South Africa.

How You Can Help

	$50 - 2 women living with HIV/AIDS can receive counseling
	$100 - 4 women can attend workshops to learn about treatment options, reproductive health, and nutrition
	$500 - 25 women can form a support group and run a community garden to provide income and better nutrition
	show more

	$ Other amount

Received $5,404 from 60 donations from people like:

IDEX

Neoaid

KatZav

(Anon.)

+

YOU!

Give now to become donor #61!

Actions

Printer Friendly
Add to Favorite Projects
Add to Registry
Subscribe to Updates
Subscribe to RSS Feed

Share & Save

Spread the Word
Tag on del.icio.us
Add to Facebook

More Information About this Project

Project Needs and Beneficiaries

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.

Activities

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.

Funding Information

Total Funding Received to Date: $5,304
Remaining Goal to be Funded: $10,316
Total Funding Goal: $15,620

Additional Documentation

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

Resources

Project's External Homepage (http://www.idex.org/partner.php?partner_id=24)

Why this Project is Important

Potential Long Term Impact

PWN currently manages 15 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

Who is Running This Project

Contact

Sarah Dotlich,
IDEX Africa Program Director
IDEX
827 Valencia Street, Suite 101
San Francisco, CA 94110
United States
415-824-8384
Email:

Project Sponsor

International Development Exchange (IDEX)

Organization

Positive Women’s Network (PWN)
c/o IDEX
827 Valencia Street, Suite 101
San Francisco, CA 94110
South Africa
415-824-8384
http://www.idex.org/partner.php?partner_id=24

Learn more about Positive Women’s Network (PWN) and the project team.

Where this Project is Located

Country

This project is located in South Africa and can also be found under Health.

For more information about South Africa, read the Human Development Report on South Africa or the Wikipedia entry for South Africa.

When this Project was Updated

Last Updated

This project was last updated on January 17, 2008.

Date Added to GlobalGiving

This project was added to the GlobalGiving project catalog on August 15, 2007.

Latest Update from the Field

January 2008 Update

By Katherine Zavala - Coordinator of Programs, IDEX, January 17, 2008 08:33 PM

In October 2007, PWN reported details of their training program, where trainers carry out HIV/AIDS treatment literacy workshops. In the past two months, six newly trained trainers on HIV treatment literacy provided information and brought resources to their support groups. As a result, 60 women have benefited from the workshops led by these new trainers.

Since October, PWN has also facilitated counseling for over 100 women living with HIV/AIDS. These counseling sessions allow women to talk openly about their illness and identify ways to cope with depression and the stigma they face as a result of being HIV positive. This is critical, as women often have no one to turn to for support after being diagnosed as HIV positive.

Women’s depression is frequently compounded by poverty and a lack of access to resources, which PWN also works to address through workshops and skills development. In fact recent research* highlights the increasing evidence of a direct correlation between heightened suicide rates and a diagnosed HIV positive status. PWN is working to turn this around through counseling and support group programs.

* Suicidal Behaviour in South Africa by Lourens Schlebusch, 2005 University of Kwa-Zulu Natal Press.

Read 2 more "Updates from the Field" | Comment on this update

Subscribe to "Updates from the Field" by E-Mail

How Else You Can Help

Spread the Word on your Profile, Blog, or Website

Put a widget for this project on your profile, blog or website to turn your friends into givers. Using our Widgetbox widget, it's quick and easy to add this widget to your profile or blog! We have two different styles to pick from, so grab the widget that you like the most!

Empower Women to End HIV/AIDS Stigma, South Africa
34.0% funded ($5,304)

Add to Profile, Blog, or Website using Widgetbox

Share and Save

Tag on del.icio.us
Add to Facebook
Digg It!
Add to Google Bookmarks
Add to Yahoo! Bookmarks
Reddit