Empower Women to End HIV/AIDS Stigma, South Africa
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.
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Received $6,374 from 64 donations from people like: |
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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: $6,374
Remaining Goal to be Funded: $9,246
Total Funding Goal: $15,620
Additional Documentation
This project has provided additional documentation in a Microsoft Word file (projdoc.doc).
Resources
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
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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 June 04, 2008.
Date Added to GlobalGiving
This project was added to the GlobalGiving project catalog on August 15, 2007.
Latest Update 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.
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