The “Monster” in South Africa

Abstract

At the same time that Charlize Theron was being acclaimed in her native home of South Africa for her performance in the film Monster I was invited to be among the first delegation of nurses from the United States to South Africa to work together to strategize community interventions to combat the monster in Africa--HIV. It was an honor for me to be a member of this delegation focused on HIV-related issues on a continent severely plagued by the deadly virus. The visit in March of 2004 was supported by People to People International to South Africa. The focus of the delegation was to promote cultural understanding enhance communication promote peace among nations propose efforts to break stereotypes and create dialogue. We had long and intense discussions with various employees of South African agencies who represented numerous health care specialties. These agencies included the Department of Healths National HIV/AIDS Tuberculosis Unit the Maternal and Infant Health Care Strategies Research Unit the University of Pretorias Center for the Study of AIDS AIDS Care Training and Support Rural Community Initiative LoveLife Youth Center Medicines sans Frontiers (MSF; Doctors Without Borders) Mothers to Mothers-to-Be (U.S. funded) and the Treatment Action Campaign. Our visit with the U.S. ambassador to South Africa Cameron Hume at the U.S. Embassy displayed our government to be very concerned over the HIV crisis in South Africa. (excerpt)