UGANDA: Nnalongo Nakabuye, "Taking the drugs without food is taking yourself to the grave"

MUKONO, 11 December 2012 (PlusNews) - In October, a report by the Uganda AIDS Commission revealed that the country’s fishing community - considered one of the groups most at risk of contracting HIV - had inadequate access to life-prolonging antiretroviral drugs (ARVs). As of June 2012, just 948 of 6,225 fisherfolk in need of ARVs were receiving the drugs. full testimony

KENYA: Rita, "I feel cheated of my right to decide whether to give birth or not"

NAIROBI, 30 November 2012 (PlusNews) - In August 2012, the African Gender and Media Initiative, a Kenyan NGO, released a report documenting cases of forced and coerced sterilizations of HIV-positive women, carried out by both private and government-run health facilities. full testimony

SOUTH AFRICA: Mthetho Tshemese, “All you hear about are the deaths, the injuries, the botched circumcisions"

JOHANNESBURG, 11 September 2012 (PlusNews) - Mthetho Tshemese is a psychologist from South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province, the traditional homeland of the country’s Xhosa community, in which traditional circumcision marks a boy’s transition to manhood. Tshemese is also a featured author in a new book about HIV and gender, (Un)covering Men, in which he writes about this traditional, and controversial, initiation. full testimony

KENYA: Leah, "I don't want to get to third-line ARVs"

NAIROBI, 2 August 2012 (PlusNews) - An estimated six million HIV-positive Africans are receiving life-prolonging antiretroviral treatment - a critical component in the management and control of HIV infection - but new studies show that resistance to the drugs is growing, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. full testimony

SOUTH AFRICA: Busisiwe Beko, "I'm pregnant, I've got HIV and also TB"

DURBAN, 15 June 2012 (PlusNews) - In 2005, Busisiwe Beko realized she was pregnant. She also found out she was HIV-positive, and that she had active tuberculosis (TB). Then she developed multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) and for the next year struggled to get proper, timely treatment for her and her baby daughter, who contracted MDR-TB. full testimony

SOUTH AFRICA: Lihle Dlamini, “People who have TB still face the same challenges I faced in 2002”

JOHANNESBURG, 16 August 2011 (PlusNews) - Lihle Dlamini is the deputy general-secretary of South Africa’s AIDS lobby group, the Treatment Action Campaign. As the country moves to include a strong emphasis on tuberculosis (TB) for the first time in its latest national strategic plan on HIV, Dlamini recounted her experience with TB treatment almost 10 years ago: full testimony

SOUTH AFRICA: Mandisa Dlamini, “You don’t know the real Gugu Dlamini”

DURBAN, 8 June 2011 (PlusNews) - In 1998, HIV/AIDS activist Gugu Dlamini was beaten to death near KwaMashu township outside Durban after publicly disclosing her HIV-positive status. Her death, an example of the depth of HIV stigma, shook South Africa. Dlamini’s death almost destroyed her daughter, Mandisa, who was just 13 years old when her mother died. Now 25, Mandisa spoke about her experience as part of this year’s Nkosi Johnson memorial lecture, named for South Africa’s youngest HIV activist who died in 2001, at the SA AIDS 2011 Conference. full testimony

SOUTH AFRICA: Nonqaba Jacobs, "She says it's from Satan that you are positive"

KHAYELITSHA, 31 May 2011 (PlusNews) - Nonqaba Jacobs, 28, comes from a rural community outside East London; both parents were HIV-positive and she tested positive in 2004. In 2005 she moved to Khayelitsha, near Cape Town, where she found treatment and attitudes towards HIV to be a world away from what she experienced in the Eastern Cape. These days she is doing well, but is worried about her mother, who has gone off her antiretrovirals in favour of "faith healing" at the Christ Embassy church. full testimony

SOUTH AFRICA: Monde Kenneth Hobongwana, "The information is there, treatment is there, but still people default"

KHAYELITSHA, 19 May 2011 (PlusNews) - In 2008, Monde Kenneth Hobongwana, 37, tested HIV-positive. A student of business management at the time, he had been tested before, and blames risky behaviour for his status. He says that having a support structure is key to accepting one's status, but acknowledges that among men, it is still a difficult subject to discuss openly. full testimony