MASANGANE TREATMENT PROGRAM

Vesper Society is providing support in rural South Africa to a community model (based on the Treatment Action Campaign by Doctor’s Without Borders) for the treatment of persons with HIV/AIDS. By working with community leaders, it also is seeking to improve the health infrastructure by equipping the community with treatment knowledge and improved health services through education and mobilization.

Masangane was founded in 2002 by a Moravian pastor who was also a retired school principal.  Together with a group of volunteers from various Moravian congregations, the pastor launched a home-based orphan care project. When Masangane helpers learned about life-saving medications, they desperately wanted to save the HIV/AIDS infected parents. In June of 2002, a treatment fund was established. Ten very sick parents were taken to a private doctor who prescribed anti-retroviral medications. Masangane helpers were trained by Doctors without Borders and Treatment Action Campaign staff to monitor and supervise adherence and compliance.  

The success has been phenomenal. Most patients recover within three to six months. Support groups and “buddy treatment supporters” are pillars of the program. Treatment beneficiaries are adherence counselors for new ARV-patients. A special bond among beneficiaries breaks stigma and isolation.

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