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 In this episode of Siyayinqoba Beat It! - the support group discussed the importance of disclosuring one's HIV positive status to people you trust. The team visited Michelle Peers, an HIV positive woman from Wallacedene, who was finding it difficult to tell her aunt about her HIV status. Michelle and Ricardo du Preez, who is a nurse at the clinic where Michelle goes to for her treatment, joined us in studio to discuss her disclosure and how Ricardo supported her through it all.
In this episode of Siyayinqoba Beat It, the support group looked at the pros and cons of both home based palliative care and palliative care at a Hospice. In order to get more insite the support group were joined by Seipati Ngobeni who helped nurse her HIV positive aunt back to health. Another studio guest, Dr Natalya Dinat, brought a professional perspective to the discussion.
Ronald Louw had been exemplary in almost all aspects of his life, except the fact that he did not get tested for HIV. In this episode of Siyayinqoba the team goes to Durban where Louw's memorial service took placeIn studio Treatment Action Campaign chair Zackie Achmat, Louw's close friend and comrade explained the importance of early testing and how many lives can be saved if everyone could do away denialism and get tested.
There are many different substances out there, and they have two things in common; they make it more likely for us to have unsafe sex and get infected or re-infected with HIV. Drugs also make it harder for HIV positive people to adhere to ARVs once they've progressed to stage 4 of the disease. In this episode of Siyayinqoba Beat It!, support group member Zack Smit was the youth guest. Zack shared his experiences as someone recovering from substance abuse and living openly with HIV with the viewers.
Oral hygiene is about taking good care of our mouth, teeth and gums. Why is oral hygiene especially important for people living with HIV? Do we need to have regular check-ups and what should we be looking out for? How can we take better care of ourselves? This episode of Siyayinqoba Beat It! answered these questions.
This episode of Siyayinqoba Beat It! posed the following questions: Can young people, who rely on the financial and emotional support of older people, manage to negotiate safer sex? Should we encourage relationships between people with big age gaps? How are age, gender and poverty factors that influence HIV transmission?
In this episode of Siyayinqoba Beat It! the support group spoke about the more serious opportunistic infections which occur when the immune system is very weak, when the CD4 cell count is below 200. This is the stage that is called AIDS. The reality is when your CD4 cell count is low, HIV positive people get a number of opportunistic infections but the good news is that with the help of ARVs many people recover even from serious opportunistic infections and get well again.
We all want to live in a world that is AIDS free and we cannot be judgemental about sex work. Sex workers are as much at risk from their clients as clients may be from sex workers. Our objective has to be to make sex work safe for both clients and sex workers. In this epsiode the support group spoke about the dangers faced by sex workers and what kinds of services are offered to help them protect themselves.
In this episode we explored the impact of political leaders disclosing that they have lost family members to HIV/AIDS and how the public disclosure of Justice Edwin Cameron was used as an advocacy tool to push for access to treatment for all. Studio guest, Azola Goqwana, shared a youth perspective and debated the role of HIV/AIDS leadership in all sectors of society with Siyayinqoba support group members.
In this episode of Siyayinqoba Beat It! we visited the Shabalala family in Bronkhortspruit, Mpumalanga, to find out about the day-to-day struggles and needs of child-headed households. We also found out about the Sizanani Village and Isibindi Project that assist in giving or facilitating social, personal and psychological support to children orphaned by HIV and AIDS.
Many people living with HIV also get TB. Why is it so important to diagnose TB early and take TB medication properly? How can you get effective treatment for multi-drug resistant TB? Together with the Siyayinqoba support group, we learnt the answers to these questions from the experiences of studio guest, Shane King from Atlantis, and from the story of Nobuhle Nunwana from Beaufort West.
Through the experiences of the Siyayinqoba support group, Barbara Twala from Mpumalanga, and Caroline Songqushwa and Nozuko Smile from Queenstown, we heard about the problems and sometimes fatal delays experienced by people trying to get access to ARV treatment through government hospitals and clinics. Fatima Hassan from the Joint Civil Society ARV Monitoring Forum and Thami Mseleku, the Director General of the Department of Health, also discussed these issues in the Siyayinqoba studio.
Our constitution states that discrimination on the basis of one's gender, sexual orientation and any unfair discrimination is not acceptable and yet by not employing people living with HIV or AIDS, the South African National Defence Force continues to discriminate against people living with HIV. The SANDF is exempt from key legislation which is the basis of South Africa's non-discriminatory policy on HIV/AIDS. The support group debated and questioned why the law allows this kind of discrimination to continue in the South African Defence Force.
In this episode we visited Nunu Sigasa, a lesbian woman, who runs educational workshops after her experience of being raped and infected with HIV. We learnt more about the views and work done by Dumisani Rebombo of the Men as Partners Project and Reverend Bafana Khumalo of the Commission for Gender Equality.
Matthias Rath, who has been discredited in a number of countries in Europe has set up the Dr Rath Foundation in South Africa and has claimed that his package of vitamins can reverse the course of AIDS. While there is no scientific proof that anything besides antiretrovirals (ARVs) can effectively treat HIV and AIDS by restoring our immune systems, the Rath Foundation has actively campaigned against the use of ARVs. Together with the Siyayinqoba support group, we learnt in this episode from the deaths of Ntombekhaya Kruthani and Noxolo Ngalo, and the views of doctors and activists experienced in HIV/AIDS work, of the disastrous consequences of taking the vitamin ‘cures' offered by the Rath Foundation.
Globally women are more at risk of HIV infection than men. Women's position in communities, gender-based violence and the fact that many women are not empowered to negotiate safer sex, make them especially vulnerable to HIV. The Siyayinqoba Beat It! team asked: What preventative methods are available in South Africa to help women protect themselves from infection by HIV and other STIs?
There are about 160 000 people in South Africa's prisons. Current estimates are that over half of South Africa's prison population is HIV positive. Yet condoms are not easily available in prisons and the Department of Correctional Services does not offer antiretroviral (ARV) treatment. The Siyayinqoba team asked: What effect does this have on the rate of HIV infection inside and outside prison? What about the right of prison inmates living with HIV and AIDS to receive the treatment they need?
2004 statistics tell us that sub-Saharan Africa is the region of the world most affected by HIV/AIDS. 25.4 million people were living with HIV and AIDS, there were around 3.1 million new infections in 2004 and 2.3 million people died from HIV/AIDS-related causes in that year. More than 12 million children had been orphaned. The Siyayinqoba support group explored these serious challenges with HIV activist, Believe Dhliwayo, who shared the Zimbabwean experience of poor resources, denialism and stigma. We also learnt about creative steps being taken in Botswana to address the epidemic from the Botswanan President Festus Mogae.
Siyayinqoba Beat It! - the programme for people living with HIV and AIDS, and our partners, families and friends, discussed the choices facing mothers living with HIV in feeding their babies by breastfeeding or formula feeding. With the practical experience of mothers living with HIV, Simphiwe Mabaso from Mpumalanga and Nompumelelo Buthelezi from KwaZulu-Natal we learnt more about the two options.
In this episode the Siyayinqoba support group examined how HIV can affect our mental health and how mental health challenges can be treated. About one out of every 3 people regularly making use of HIV/AIDS clinics show some signs of facing mental health challenges and may need help to overcome these. What are the signs of depression and other mental health difficulties? And what can we do to take better care of our mental health as people living with HIV and AIDS?
Many people living with HIV/AIDS are also living with different kinds of disabilities. Does HIV/AIDS awareness and education reach people with disabilities? Are our healthcare services sensitive to the needs of people with disabilities? Through the experiences of John Meletse of the Gay and Lesbian Archives (GALA), Buyile Vava and other members of Disabled People of South Africa (DPSA) and parliamentarian, Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, the Siyayinqoba support group shared ideas on what can be done to help people cope more easily with living with disability and the challenges of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
In this episode the Siyayinqoba team discussed the role the media plays in the response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The team focused on two books and a movie which they felt the viewers would find informative and enjoyable. First, they spoke to Judge Edwin Cameron about his book Witness to AIDS. Then they discussed a children's book called Brenda has a Dragon in her Blood by Hijltje Vink. The book is about the life of a young girl who is living with HIV. Finally the team revealed the critically acclaimed movie Yesterday to the viewers.
By now everyone in South Africa will have to deal with a loss of a friend, colleague or a family member to AIDS? Death is something that we do not want to talk about, but we have to talk about it and face the reality that many people are still dying because they are not accessing ARVs soon enough. What should we do when someone close to us pass away? Apart from organising funerals and the stress of covering the cost there is also the emotional pain and suffering. Remembering those who have gone is part of the healing process after the loss of the loved one. We welcome Matshidiso Habana to the support group. Matshidiso is our youth guest today in our discussion between death and loss.
We all know that we cannot be tested without our consent, but do we have to volunteer for a test? Or should testing be done routinely? Meaning it is offered to everyone using the public health service; which of course, you can refuse if you really don't want to know your HIV status. While there are millions of people who are living with HIV, most people do not know their HIV status. Not having an HIV test done, delays proper treatment, care and support we need to live positively with HIV. If all knew our HIV status many illnesses, deaths and most importantly new infections could be prevented. The Beat It! team spoke to Gugu from Ezimbokodweni near Durban, who strongly supports routine testing because she didn't get tested when she was pregnant. And now has a child living with HIV. Let's watch her story.
Today we are discussing prophylactics and vaccinations. Prophylaxis means to prevent and that is what prophylactics and vaccines do they prevent illness. Antiretrovirals can be used to prevent mother-to-child-transmission of HIV. They can also be used to prevent infection after rape or needle stick injuries to healthcare workers. But what other preventable methods are there that we should know about especially when we start antiretrovirals. With us to discuss this issue is Ullah Mothibi. Doctor Mothibi is from the HIV Unit in the Western Cape Department of Health.
This week we spoke about why vitamins and micronutrients are necessary and how much we should take to maintain a balanced diet. To help us discuss these issues, we were joined by Irene Labuschagne from the University of Stellenbosch who works with people living with HIV. Jason ended the show with a few helpful tips on positive living.
Today we are discussing prophylactics and vaccinations. Prophylaxis means to prevent and that is what prophylactics and vaccines do they prevent illness. Antiretrovirals can be used to prevent mother-to-child-transmission of HIV. They can also be used to prevent infection after rape or needle stick injuries to healthcare workers. But what other preventable methods are there that we should know about especially when we start antiretrovirals. With us to discuss this issue is Ullah Mothibi. Doctor Mothibi is from the HIV Unit in the Western Cape Department of Health.
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