Positive Women’s Network

Located in South Africa - Founded in 1996 - IDEX partner since 2005

Prudence Mabele discussing HIV/AIDS prevention with a youth group in Johannesburg.

PWN combats stigma around HIV/AIDS by encouraging HIV-positive women to “come out” and creating support groups to address discrimination.

PWN works in the townships outside of Johannesburg, South Africa with HIV-positive women and their families. PWN combats stigma by encouraging HIV-positive women to “come out” and create support groups to address discrimination and access treatment and other resources.

Highlights of PWN’s core activity include outreach on accurate information about HIV/AIDS, grief counseling, treatment literacy for women to learn the basics of Anti-Retroviral Treatment, nutrition, and prevention of disease transmission (especially mother-to-child transmission).

Related training topics include home and community-based palliative care, strategies for supporting orphaned and vulnerable children, counseling resources, and women’s rights and resources pertaining to domestic abuse and rape. It also operates a “train-the-trainers” program where women are trained to form new support groups.

Over 1,000 women have participated in workshops since PWN was founded.