TREATMENT ACTION CAMPAIGN

Beat It! 2000 Episode 7 - Special report

With an overt political angle this episode of Beat It! looked at the reasons why the successes of the Khayelitsha PMTCT programme were not being rolled out nationally. The results of not rolling out the PMTCT programme was then driven home in an emotional Support Group discussion in which mothers who have lost their babies through mother-to-child-transmission shared their experiences.

Beat It! 2002 Episode 8 - Special Report

In this Special Report we accompanied Zackie Achmat, Mathew Damane and others to Brazil to learn more about generic drugs.

Siyayinqoba Beat It! 2005 Episode 3 - Middle Class Denialism

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.

Siyayinqoba Beat It! 2005 Episode 15 - Unregulated experimentation

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.

TAC and SAMA press conference announcing court action to be taken

This source tape covered the Treatment Action Campaign and the South African Medical Association's press conference. The press conference was held on the day that these two organisations filed papers in the Cape High Court against the Medicines Control Council (MCC) and the national and provincial Departments of Health to address their inaction in enforcing the Medicines Act against Matthias Rath and his Foundation.

Siyayinqoba Beat It! 2006 Ep. 11 - Gender based violence - Lorna Mlofana

In 2004/2005, 306 rapes cases were reported in Khayelitsha alone. The 306 reported rapes however do not give a true reflection of the incidence of rape in this community as 42% of Rape Crisis clients did not report their rapes to the SAPS in the same year. Nationally only 7 - 9% of perpetrators of reported rape cases are convicted and between 40 - 60% of all reported rape cases are withdrawn. What can and should be done to address this social ill? In this episode the group, with the Lorna Mlofana's case as study, reflected on how sustained community mobilisation can ensure justice.

Siyayinqoba Beat It! 2006 Episode 18 - ARV treatment sites

In this weeks episode of Siyayinqoba Beat It! 2006 we are talking about how the slow process of accrediting ARV treatment sites is causing problems for people accessing ARVs, we speak to James Nonnies about the death of his son Msimelelo due to poor access to ARVs, we also speak to HIV positive inmate Sifiso Zulu about accessing ARVs at Westville prison in Durban. Fatima Hassan from the Joint Civil Society Monitoring Forum joins our support group to talk about the problems facing sites wanting to become accredited.

Access to ARVs, Westville Prison - Sifiso Zulu, Sipho Mthati, Zackie Achmat, the Treatment Action Campaign.

The TAC is joined by ex-Westville Prison inmates to talk about the problems facing HIV positive prisoners in accessing treatment. Sifiso talks about how you are not allowed to be tested for HIV unless you are bedridden and how inmates went on a hunger strike to attract attention to the plight of HIV positive inmates. Sipho Mthati talks about how what the Department of Correctional Services is doing is unconstitutional.

TAC and ALP Press Conference on UNGASS - Parts 1 - 2

Sipho Mthathi, Fatima Hassan and Zackie Achmat discuss the objection by the South African government to the participation of the Treatment Action Camapign and the AIDS Law Project in the United Nations' General Assembly Special Session on AIDS.The TAC and the ALP were two of six organisations that had been prevented from accreditation through the deliberate intervention of UN member states. Namibia and Belarus were the only other two countries that exercised objections. Hundreds of organisations from across the world had been accredited because their governments did not choose to exercise an objection.

22 August 2006 - Senator Obama meets with TAC

On the 22nd of August 2006 Senator Barack Obama, during a tour of Africa, visited South Africa and met with members of the Treatment Action Campaign in Khayelitsha. He also visited Site B Clinic in Khayelitsha were he saw the work that TAC's Treatment Literacy Practitioners do on a daily basis in clinics across the country. During the closed session of their meeting TAC members suggested to Senator Obama that he run for president. Obama took a strong position on preventing and treating HIV/AIDS and was critical of the South African government's response to the epidemic and their disregard and animosity towards the Treatment Action Campaign.

Patient Abuse

Patient Abuse follows the events leading up to the formation of the Treatment Action Campaign and their struggles to access affordable quality treatment for all South Africans, by challenging the patent laws protecting the profits of multinational drug companies. Patient Abuse tells of how the Treatment Action Campaign grew from a handful of people on the steps of St Georges Cathedral to an organisation of thousands with support from activists around the globe. In April of 2001 the TAC was victorious when the PMA withdrew it's case.

Law and Freedom

Director: Zackie Achmat

Part 2: It's a Nice Country! We meet courageous women and men who have used the Constitution to build democracy and a better life for all. First, we meet Irene Grootboom whose struggle for housing culminated in a landmark ruling of the Constitutional Court that is seen as crucial for the establishment of greater socio-economic rights. In the case of Ngxuza and others v the Eastern Cape Provincial Government, we meet the Meltafas, who even in the new democratic order, had to challenge abuse of power when their grants were unlawfully withdrawn. When labeled a troublemaker by officials, Mrs Meltafa responds, "You have been sleeping, I have woken you up!". It's a Nice Country! also explores the case of the Treatment Action Campaign's battle for the use of antiretrovirals to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV. In this personal reading of the "Nevirapine case," Achmat pays tribute to TAC members who, through their work of education and community mobilisation, used the Constitution to achieve access to life saving treatment.

Media, Method, Message

Media, Method, Message follows the story of Beat It! the worlds first HIV/AIDS magazine programme. Narrated by the shows co-creator and director Jack Lewis, we see how Beat It! worked towards removing the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS and addressed the concerns of real people living with AIDS through documentary inserts and an in studio HIV+ support group.