God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE

Reflections / Gedanken

09/17/2012 • 7:45 am Comments Off on Sex worker denied PTMCT

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, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

09/14/2012 • 7:40 am Comments Off on Sex instead love in South Africa

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, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

09/12/2012 • 6:09 pm Comments Off on Responsibility, Fundrasing and Rotary

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, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

08/30/2012 • 7:12 am Comments Off on Visitors to HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust

Visitors to HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust

 

Today,  Mrs. Elke Ferner, Deputy Chair of the SPD party in the German parliament and Mrs. Evelyne Gebhard, member of the European Parliament will visit our project. Together with members of the diplomatic staff of the German Embassy and the German Consulate General we will visit a township clinic and observe one of our HOPE community health worker before heading to have a look at the community of Blikkiesdorp and our involvement there. Before going to lunch and answering all open question a visit to the Ithemba ward will round-up the visit.
For HOPE Cape Town Association and Trust it is always a pleasure to have members of various parliaments and to give insight for those in the political arena. It is important that decision maker are informed about what is going on on grass root level. European visitors learn about the health system of South Africa first hand and experience the achievements as well as the shortcomings of our local system. That helps to assist in the bilateral talks between in this case Germany and South Africa and shapes the decision-making process how best to assist this country.
Also in this sense HOPE Cape Town Association and Trust is like a bridge bringing together and in touch two worlds which are quite apart from each other looking at the health system. Germans living here in South Africa know how to appreciate the health insurance Germany is offering to them and not surprisingly a lot of people making their living now in South Africa remain members of their respective health insurance company based in Germany. It is to hope that South Africa one day is ready to install a similar system. According to government sources such a system is considered and somehow in the pipeline, even nobody knows what it will cost to implement it.

Besides that the visitors will learn to know the variety of portfolios HOPE Cape Town Association and Trust is involved in: from grass root level to academic research.

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

08/24/2012 • 6:47 pm Comments Off on Good news from Swaziland…

Good news from Swaziland…

The results from a nationally representative HIV incidence study in Swaziland indicate that the national rate of new HIV infections is 2.38% among adults ages 18-49. This figure, comparable to the 2009 UNAIDS estimate of 2.66% for Swaziland adults ages 15-49, suggests that the HIV epidemic in Swaziland may have begun to stabilize in the past few years. To read more about the interesting research go to:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/248404.php

Filed under: HIV and AIDS, HIV Prevention, HIV Treatment, Medical and Research, Politics and Society, Society and living environment, , , , , , ,

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