• The Topsy Foundation helps people in rural townships infected with HIV providing testing, treatment and counseling.
    In South Africa approximately 5.6 million people are living with HIV- higher than in any other country. The largest percentage of people with HIV are women. Access to HIV treatment has increased ten-fold over the last five years. Lifesaving anti-retroviral therapy (ART) is now available in South Africa. It has the potential to turn what is a death sentence for children who lack access to treatment into a chronic, manageable disease. Children who have access to pediatric ART can survive into adolescence and adulthood. However, only 28% of HIV-positive children in South Africa currently have access to pediatric ART. Not only does ART treatment help people recover their health, it also makes them less infectious and if pregnant women receive ART in time it can help them give birth to children free of HIV. Since the emergence of Aids in South Africa in the late 1980s, a lost generation of mothers have passed away leaving two million HIV orphans.
    South Africa’s charities work tirelessly in an attempt to reduce the 1500 new infections each day and reduce infant mortality.
    The majority of rural women interviewed by Amnesty International said that their male partners were reluctant to test for HIV or refused to be tested — even when there were strong indications they might be HIV-infected. Many of the women faced abuse from their partners when they tried to access health services for HIV-related treatment and care.
    communities.
    The people in this feature live in rural communities in and around the crossroads of Mpumalanga, Guteng and Free State provences. This are often referred to as the forgotten part of the country due to its scant infrastructure and lack of large scale industry. It is home to several large rural communities around the towns of Balfour and Grootvlei. This feature documents life in these rural areas and shows generations of children, young women, mothers and grandmothers affected, or infected, by HIV.

  • An aids symbol draw into a wall in Siyataemba Township
  • Siyataemba Township, home to 50 thousand people
  • A man shows his Topsy appointment card
  • A woman joins the queue to see a Doctor at Topsy
  • Ann was abandoned by her mother who could not cope with her illness, she suffered from Cerebral Palsy as well as HIV.
  • A woman washes out side her home
  • A sick woman lies in bed in her home.
  • HIV medication on a patients bed side table
  • A teenage girl poses for a portrait. She just took a HIV test and found she was positive.
  • Betty lies on a mattress in the middle of the house. She is very ill and in pain. She is on treatment but feels too ill to eat, her family receive food parcels along with the free medication. One of her sisters stands over her. A social worker convinces the 6 siblings to take an hit test; all were positive. One had known for ten years that he's was infected but did not want to disclose her status to anyone or been seen going to get treatment.
  • David received his daily treatments. He was very ill before he went to the clinic to get any help.
  • GOGO Lizzy who lives with her 3 Orphaned grandchildren after their parents died from HIV.
  • David received his daily treatments. He was very ill before he went to the clinic to get any help.
  • David received his daily treatments. He was very ill before he went to the clinic to get any help. He now suffered from hallucination due to his body being so thin.
  • Lefa, 24 has been very ill for over a year and now he is getting medication is making progress to recovery. He cannot leave the sofa at the moment due to seveary swollen feet.
  • Lefa, 24 has been very ill for over a year and now he is getting medication is making progress to recovery. He cannot leave the sofa at the moment due to seveary swollen feet.
  • Grandma Joanna with baby Cidy who's an orphan and also HIV positive. Pictured outside there home in extension one Township
  • Lihlh, 12 and her mother are both positive. Lihlh was not infected until she was raped at the age of 10 then again at 11. She also now had TB and Syphilis. Her mother is also abusive to her.She recently suffered from meningitis and is left with slight brain damage.
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