World AIDS Day: Staying sober amidst promising strides

There is a lot to be thankful for this year in terms of the AIDS epidemic, specifically the recent strides made in HIV prevention research. The CAPRISA 004 trial results and the recent results from the iPrEx PrEP effectiveness trial (which showed that once-daily Truvada reduced risk of HIV infection in gay men, transgender women and other men who have sex with men by an average of 43.8%) are something to be celebrated!

Unfortunately, despite these landmarks, UNAIDS reports that an estimated number of children living with HIV or AIDS in 11 Asian countries has increased by 46 percent between 2001 and 2009; that for every one person starting HIV treatment, there are two new HIV infections; that new HIV infection rates have increased by 25% in countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia; and, that the global economic struggle has resulted in a massive decline in international funding for AIDS programs.

Sigh.

But – everyone likes a challenge, right?

What’s next?

In Honor of Women’s Month

In honor of Women’s Month, which takes place in South Africa in August, SMYN brought together female football legends, a panel of distinguished guests, and young up and coming female footballers for a community dialogue to discuss the social ills women are faced with in South Africa. Given the fact that the majority of the work we do is with men (both young and old), it was a nice change of pace to do something for the young women in the community.

At the community dialogue, the MC interacts with the young women in the crowd.

Over the course of two hours, young women from Mohlakeng, Orange Farm and Mamelodi engaged with panelists regarding issues relating to inequitable gender relations, education, women’s susceptibility to HIV and AIDS and their powerlessness in society. To be honest, I’m not sure how much these young women really embraced what was being shared with them, but I don’t think that’s abnormal given the fact that they were between 14-17 years old. I don’t remember being too keen on addressing issues like this at that age either.

Ladies kicking butt on the pitch.

In addition to the dialogue, we hosted a 5-a-side tournament between four female teams. Dona’s Mates excelled in all of their games, and at the end of the tournament, a select team played in a game against the SA female legends representing Show Me Your Number. Whilst the legends won the game (7-4), the young women enjoyed the opportunity to play with and learn from their idols. Overall, despite the fact that we were hoping for more people to attend the event, those who did attend enjoyed what we had to offer and everything ran smoothly.

Football for Hope

In an effort to promote its role in using football as a tool for social development, FIFA developed the Football for Hope Festival, to be launched in Alexandra, Johannesburg for the first time, during the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Manning the tent at the Football for Hope Festival

Some background on Alexandra: Established in 1912 in an attempt to establish a white residential township (with little success), Alexandra was deemed a “native township” that same year, meaning that it was one of the few urban areas in South Africa where black people could own land. Plagued by lack of resources and poor management, Alex has experienced a history or violence (including xenophobic attacks as recent as May 2008) and upheaval. Many of my co-workers told me that when they were kids, they were warned from going to the Alex due to the dangers that lurked there.

Over the course of one week (4-10 July 2010), FIFA brought together 32 teams from across the globe representing organizations that use football as a tool for social development at the Football for Hope Festival.  The 32 teams/organizations participated not only in a week-long 5-a-side football tournament (à la World Cup style), but also in workshops and activities where they showcased their programs and learned from other like-minded organizations from around the world.

At the request of FIFA, Show Me Your Number distributed information regarding HIV prevention and provided free HIV Counseling and Testing to Festival goers. Throughout this week long Festival, Show Me Your Number tested over 200 people and brought HIV prevention messaging to hundreds of festival participants and spectators in the Alexandra township.

In addition to these activities, Show Me Your Number was asked to put together a team of former professional players to play a five-a-side All Star Match. Check out an action shot of the guys playing the stadium below…

Getting dirty

The Global Fund Visit Part Deux

A mere ten days after their first visit, the Global Fund came back to South Africa with their media crew from France to record the various activities, Show Me Your Number, is doing in support of the National Strategic Plan and the HIV Counseling and Testing (HCT) Campaign.

Whilst our previous event was located at Maponya Mall, this time we headed down to Meadowlands Zone 5 in Soweto for a soccer match between the Soweto Ladies Football Club and Dlala Ntombazana, HCT, a 5-a-side tournament with former professional football players, and speeches encouraging the girls to be leaders in their communities and get tested.

Engender Health envisioned that only 10 people would test, but in fact, 81 people tested (!!!), including me, suggesting that this campaign is helping (even if just a little bit) to reduce the issues of stigma and discrimination surrounding the illness. This is the 3^rd time I’ve tested since being in South Africa. I try to do it at every event we have as I can’t likely encourage people to test without testing myself. Each testing experience is different, though I won’t go into details at this point.

Suffice it to say, I’m a bit concerned that the quality of testing wasn’t evaluated before South African launched its HCT campaign last month.

On a happier note, check out my (amateur) video of the ball juggler who came to our event below:

The Global Fund Visit Numero Uno

A few weeks back, the media team at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria contacted us asking for the opportunity to see what sorts of activities South Africa, and specifically, the Sport and Entertainment Sector, are engaging in for the World Cup.

Waiting to get tested

The Global Fund, which claims to have saved an estimated 4.9 million lives since 2005, needs to mobilize 13 to 20 billion dollars for 2011-2013 this year from government and private donors. The global economic crisis creates a new context in which to mobilize the international community to filter money into the Fund, and is proving to be difficult. But to be honest, this funding crisis has been going on for a while. Just ask my former colleagues at the Global AIDS Alliance.

In an effort to create a push for funding, the media team contacted us in order to document the results of previous funding in South Africa and inspire donors to build on these results. Certainly, the Global Fund has aided in improving both prevention campaigns and access and availability of treatment, and it’s important to build on these achievements in order to reach the health related (UN) Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

Other than being interviewed by several media outlets (let’s just hope I didn’t say anything stupid), the event, which included HIV Counseling and Testing (we tested over 100 people), ball juggling, as well the presence of many former footballers, was a blast.

HIV Counseling and Testing Campaign Launched!

Big work news!

After over a year of preparation, South Africa launched its national HIV Counseling and Testing (HCT) campaign last Sunday in Johannesburg. Coordinated by the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC), it’s the largest testing campaign to ever be taken on by a country, and forms part of the government’s new measures in the fight against HIV and AIDS.

In a country where nearly 5.7 million people are living with HIV and AIDS, the objectives of this new campaign are to test 15 million people (one-third of the population), reduce the rate of infection by 50 percent by 2011, and provide ARV treatment to 80 percent of those who need the treatment.

In an effort to support this campaign, the Sport & Entertainment Sector of SANAC (where I work) is using the World Cup as a platform to emphasize prevention through information, education, widespread distribution of condoms, and mobilization of millions of South Africans to know their HIV status.

It’s about pushing a preventative healthcare approach as opposed to a curative one and doing something about those people who die of AIDS every day because of avoiding getting tested in the first place.

I’ll be attending the provincial launch of the campaign in the Mpumalanga District this Friday. Updates forthcoming…

Sex Talk

I feel like I should take the time to let any readers (are you there?) know that there will be a lot of sex talk on my blog. Since the work I do here revolves around HIV awareness and prevention, I can’t really help it. I know that some of you won’t care, but that others will, and for that I am sorry. I’ll try to balance the HIV-related posts with those about my adventures in exploring South Africa.

But not this time.