God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE

Reflections / Gedanken

A new date to celebrate?

Unknown to many in South Africa, this month of September saw a new global awareness date: The Global Female Condom Awareness Day was celebrated on the 12th of September for the first time. Advocates and organizations in 22 states and 21 countries promoted the use of female condoms as underutilized safer sex tools. Although they’re called female condoms, these prophylactics can be used for both vaginal and anal sex. Here in South Africa more and more women use the female condom which can be worn for a longer time. Protecting themselves in the case of rape is also a reason often said when questioned about it.

Read more from the AIDS Foundation of Chicago here.

Filed under: General, HIV and AIDS, HIV Prevention, Networking, Reflection, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Erection & heart condition

There is a relationship between erectile dysfunction and the metabolic syndrome – a combination of obesity, high blood pressure and cholesterol in one person – heart disease, diabetes and common psychiatric conditions such as depression. That poor sexual health may be a warning for heart disease and diabetes is particularly important in South Africa where heart disease kills 200 people every day, and millions are suffering from diabetes. This news is also important to know for people living with the virus and therefore more at risk for heart diseases.
The whole article you can find here.

Filed under: General, HIV and AIDS, HIV Treatment, Medical and Research, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sex worker denied PTMCT

At a conference in Johannesburg a sex worker spoke of how she was detained by the police when she was pregnant. Being HIV-positive, she was forced to default on her medication to prevent her from transmitting the infection to her unborn child. “The worst thing for me was being denied my ARV’s when I was on PMTCT (prevention of mother to child HIV transmission programme). I was pregnant and denied this treatment for the whole weekend. I felt it is the worst thing because it was about the child inside of me who could have gotten infected”, she said.

Read the whole article here

Filed under: General, HIV and AIDS, HIV Prevention, HIV Treatment, Reflection, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sex instead love in South Africa

Most teenage girls in South Africa start having sex to prove their love to their boyfriends. This is according to new research presented by Neloufar Khan from the Department of Social Development at the Carnegie III conference which took place in Cape Town last week.  “Baby, you’re not faithful. You don’t trust me.” According to Khan this is the phrase men use to coax young girls into having sex with them. Carnegie III was held at the University of Cape Town and presenters focused on strategies to overcome poverty and inequality.  “The fact that girls place their health and welfare second to the needs of their boyfriends is proof of the gender inequality in these communities,” Khan said.
The whole article you can find under here

Filed under: General, HIV and AIDS, HIV Prevention, Reflection, Society and living environment, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Responsibility, Fundrasing and Rotary

Time is running fast and the year-end is closer than it feels comfortable. Tuesday we had a combined management and board meeting of HOPE Cape Town Association, like always full of items to discuss and determine and decide. 28 employees mean also a lot of administrative work, HOPE Cape Town feels obviously responsible for each and everybody working for our fine organisation. And as we completely depend on funding from the private sector it is indeed a challenge for all senior staff and board members to do all the fundraising necessary and dedicating as much time as possible to the cause we have chosen: to assist people living with or being affected by HIV and AIDS in the Western Cape.
Good news from the HOPE Cape Town Trust side which received a grant to support research in the fields of HIV and AIDS. So we can support from HOPE Cape Town the necessary academic work which always reflects in the daily work in the township communities around Cape Town.Tomorrow I will have a talk at the German Rotary Club here in Cape Town – another opportunity to advertise the work we are doing.

Being a Rotarian myself and having benefited from the work of Rotary International and it’s grant system as HOPE Cape Town I can only recommend everybody to have a look where the next Rotary Club is meeting. Becoming a Rotarian can be a live-changing event, because it means service above self in very practical terms. If somebody is reading this and living and working in Cape Town and is interested to have a closer look – the Signal Hill Rotary Club meets every Thursday at 1pm at the Royal Yacht Club for one hour. It will be a pleasure to introduce you to this fine organisation.
This reminds me that my club “Signal Hill” was at the time one of the Godparents of HOPE Cape Town – the ladies prepared for the snack after the official opening and since then the ways between HOPE Cape Town and Signal Hill crossed several times. When I am in Cape Town I enjoy this weekly break in my daily routine to catch up with my Rotarian friends at the Yacht Club – one hour of fellowship which ends often in great projects and support for those in need.

Filed under: General, HIV and AIDS, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, HOPE Cape Town Trust, Networking, Reflection, Society and living environment, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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