Empower Women to End HIV/AIDS Stigma, South Africa

Updates from the Field:

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Index of Updates from the Field

June 2008 Update

By Katherine Zavala - Coordinator of Programs, IDEX, June 04, 2008 09:57 PM

In addition to the formation of support groups, PWN also organizes community forums that are held every quarter with all support group members. They recently held such a forum.

The forums are a way for several support groups to come together to participate in a educational action or campaign for larger issues that affect their area. This provides an opportunity for support group members to become more active and share experiences with other support group members that PWN facilitates.

PWN has seen women who participate in their support groups and forums become more active in various campaigns to address local community issues. The latest campaign initiated by PWN is called the “777 campaign” and it seeks to bring awareness on violence against women. The “777 Campaign” was launched to commemorate the deaths of Sizakele Sigasa, PWN’s Outreach Coordinator, and her friend, Salome Masoa who were raped and murdered on July 7, 2007. Women participating in the support groups and forums are currently following up on two rape cases in the local courts, as a result of their participation in the “777 campaign”.

Not only are women receiving counseling through the support groups facilitated by PWN, but they are also exercising their self-confidence as they start to become more proactive in ways that can help the whole community and particularly women.

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.

December 2007 Update

By Katherine Zavala - Coordinator of Programs, December 13, 2007 06:13 PM

PWN has established a strong network of 14 support groups, and are currently trying to recruit more women to participate as well as starting new support groups. The support groups involve women who are infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.

As part of this process, PWN recently trained 20 support group facilitators. In their trainings, the facilitators learn to manage a support group and gain skills on facilitating and resolving group conflicts. Facilitators are also trained to know about different toolkits and booklets to distribute to support group members as well as how to bring in new members.

The main way PWN recruits members are through door-to-door campaigns where members canvas their township and talk about the benefits of joining a support group and encourage their neighbors to address stigma directly. Additionally, family members who have lost their loved one to AIDS invite PWN members to funerals. During these “Funeral Outreach” meetings, PWN members educate the family and friends about the disease, how they can get tested, and what other resources are available to them.

PWN’s support groups help to raise awareness about the impact of HIV/AIDS on women in South Africa. Their objective is to empower these women by providing them with psychosocial support and peer counseling to learn to live positively by dealing with this virus and to share this with their families. The support group provides a space for women to have an open dialogue about their lives as well as sharing information about HIV-prevention and treatment.

October 2007 Update

By Sarah Dotlich - Programs Officer, October 11, 2007 08:25 PM

Training of trainers on Treatment literacy

Positive Women’s Network (PWN) recently ran a series of HIV treatment literacy workshops for support groups to inform people of risk-reduction life choices. PWN carries out these three five-day workshops on a regular basis. During the recent workshops, PWN trained 160 women on HIV treatment literacy and traditional healing medicine. PWN used the Population Council's manual on Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) during the trainings.

The training covered critical topics such as HIV and Antiretroviral treatment, how fight disease, the importance of sticking to a regular treatment regime, and tools to help people remain on a treatment regime. These trainings are important as few women have access to any information about HIV/AIDS nor do they know of treatment or resources to help them. Once they are able to establish a treatment regimen their health improves. They become stronger and are able to hold down a job and in turn provide for their children and families.