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“The way forward lies rather in training average Joe or Josephine to be a capable lay health counsellor.”

Sisters doing it for themselves

It is no secret that poorly staffed and under-staffed clinics are hurting prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV efforts in South Africa. One only has to look as far as last week which saw the release of a damning Human Rights Watch (HRW) report which revealed that HIV-positive mothers-to-be were often subject to appalling treatment in state hospitals.

According to an opinion piece in The New Age (TNA) the answer to the country’s PMTCT problems does not include training more healthcare practitioners.

The way forward lies rather in training average Joe or Josephine to be a capable lay health counsellor.

Enter Mothers2mothers (m2m). This organisation trains HIV-positive mothers ('Mentor Mothers') to counsel other HIV-positive mothers and thereby lift some of the burden from the shoulders of strained public healthcare practitioners.

The Mentor Mothers provide the psychological and social support which nurses often do not have the time to provide.

The initiative has also had other positive outcomes.The lay counselors act as positive role models for their communities, serving as living and breathing examples of the successes of PMTCT.

The project has also provided a source of employment for many HIV-positive mothers who had been struggling to find work.