Evaluation, Publications, Research | 28 Mar 2023
The Red Umbrella GLO Programme is an economic empowerment intervention for sex workers that was developed and managed by NACOSA with funding from the Global Fund. The prevention and treatment of HIV among sex workers requires not only a clinical approach, but also strategies to address the structural barriers that increase sex workers’ vulnerability to HIV including legal, social and economic factors. A process evaluation of the pilot by Impact Consulting for NACOSA looked at implementation, outputs and outcomes to make recommendations for a next phase or possible scale-up. “Providing support for sex workers is the not the same as…
Evaluation, Publications, Research | 22 Mar 2023
Globally, people who inject drugs (PWID) are disproportionately affected by HIV. PWID are 28 times more likely to be living with HIV than the general population. PWID also have higher rates of hepatitis C virus HCV and TB than the general population. Micro-planning is an outreach methodology that decentralises the planning and management of outreach to peer educators who work with PWID at the grassroots level. A process evaluation of micro-planning as a service delivery model on NACOSA’s People Who Use Drugs Programme, funded by the Global Fund, was conducted for NACOSA by the CHAPS and Sediba Hope Medical Centre. The evaluation found…
Evaluation, Publications | 6 Mar 2023
Research shows that HIV affects women disproportionately in South Africa. In 2020, an estimated 4.8 million women aged 15 years and older had HIV, compared to 2.7 million men of the same age, with this phenomenon driven by biological and structural risks, including poverty, gender-based violence (GBV), and gender inequality. Recognising the vulnerability of adolescent girls and young women (AGYW), the Global Fund My Journey programme provides core and layered services to AGYW based on their individual needs. Within this programme, the Economic Strengthening Livelihoods service, or Grow Learn Own (GLO), provided AGYW who are not in employment, education, or…
Evaluation, Publications | 23 Feb 2023
The Global Fund Sex Work Programme aims to prevent new HIV infections among sex workers in South Africa. Between 2019 and 2022, the programme was managed by NACOSA working with implementing organisations in thirteen districts. One of the key components of the programme was to provide pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), an HIV prevention method newly introduced in South Africa, to HIV negative sex workers to reduce new HIV infections. A process evaluation was conducted by Impact Consulting for NACOSA to assesses the processes that the programme used to support initiation, uptake, cycling and prevention- effective adherence with regards to PrEP, and…
Publications, Research | 14 Jun 2022
NACOSA was happy to work with the SAMRC once again on a research paper published in the Frontiers in Health Services looking at lessons learned from implementing health and education interventions for adolescent girls and young women during the Covid-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with reduced access to health services and worsening health outcomes for HIV and sexual and reproductive health. Through the analysis of data from an evaluation study of a combination intervention for adolescent girls and young women in South Africa, the paper examines the way in which implementation and service provision were impacted by…
Publications, Research | 1 Jun 2022
NACOSA is proud to have co-authored a research paper with South African Medical Research Council, the University of Cape Town and the Sheffield Institute for International Development looking at feasibility and acceptability of Safe Spaces as part of HIV prevention interventions with adolescent girls and young women. The research paper was recently published in the BMC Public Health journal. Safe Spaces are a feature of HIV prevention interventions for adolescent girls and young women that NACOSA implements with funding from the Global Fund, together with two other principal recipient organisations. As part of an evaluation of this programme, researchers investigated…
Factsheet, News, Publications | 17 Mar 2022
South Africa’s medicines regulator, SAHPRA, has approved the new vaginal ring for use by women ages 18 and older to reduce their HIV risk. This is a major milestone, bringing the first long-acting and woman-controlled product a step closer to reaching the women who need it. What is it? The Vaginal Ring is a flexible, silicon band containing the antiretroviral medicine (ARV) dapivirine. How does it work? The ring is put into the vagina every month and slowly releases dapivirine into the body to help prevent HIV infection. It works to prevent HIV in people who are HIV negative in…
“The axes of poverty, gender, sexual orientation, race, age and class intersect. Some are getting the benefit of science, but others are not. Some are getting quality people-centered services, but others are not. We must therefore focus our efforts on addressing inequality in access and inequality in outcome…” – UNAIDS Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima Despite the significant gains that have been made in the AIDS response over the past 40 years, the most marginalised people continue to be disproportionately impacted: young women, sex workers, transgender people, men who have sex with men, people who use drugs and others like migrants…
News, Publications | 15 Dec 2021
It has been 40 years since the first cases of what would become known as AIDS were identified in the United States and 30 years since the National AIDS Convention of South Africa, which would evolve into NACOSA. What have we learned about tackling HIV, AIDS and other public health crises? “Our experience of battling a pandemic like HIV set us on a solid footing when it came to dealing with the arrival of Covid-19.” – Dr Saadiq Kariem, Chairperson “NACOSA’s long history within the AIDS response, its resilience and adaptability over this difficult period has meant that the organisation…
Sex workers are often stereotyped, exposed, stigmatised and misrepresented in the media. This can have a negative impact, not only on individual sex workers, but on the sex worker rights movement as a whole. Sex workers are ordinary people working to support themselves and their families and, just like any other person, should be treated with fairness and dignity. NACOSA’s key populations team have pulled together some simple pointers to guide journalists and media houses when reporting on sex work and sex workers. Key facts Sex workers are female, male and transgender adults aged over 18 years who sell consensual…
