MASANGANE TREATMENT PROGRAM—
MATATIELE AND MT. FLETCHER BRANCHES

Issue Area: Health Care Access

Masangane, the Xhosa word for “embrace,” 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 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.

In 2005, Vesper Society began supporting the Masangane program which provides treatment to persons with HIV/AIDS in a community in the rural Eastern Cape of South Africa. Working with community leaders, Masangane seeks to improve the health infrastructure and services through education and mobilization.

Masangane is a beacon of hope in a country ravaged by AIDS. Most patients recover within three to six months. Support groups and “buddy treatment supporters” are pillars of the program. Treatment beneficiaries become adherence counselors for new ARV-patients. A special bond among beneficiaries breaks stigma and isolation.

Because it can handle people who are more acutely ill and can provide medications more quickly than the state program, the Masangane program saves lives every day. Counseling and peer support help keep the dropout rate very low and the success rate high. Stable clients are transferred to the state hospital, where treatment is free, to open some of the 60 Masangane slots to serve additional clients.

In 2007, the program acquired a prefab building for its second location in a nearby rural community, greatly expanding its capacity by increasing staff and providing a place where counselors and patients can meet in private.

In early 2009, an evaluation of the program was completed by Loretta van Schalkwyk and Associates. Their findings confirm the success of the program and recommend that organizational development be addressed in order for the program to continue to flourish.

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October 2009