Since 2000 MSF has been working in South Africa, primarily in response to the HIV epidemic. In Khayelitsha, the largest township in the Western Cape, MSF has worked with the provincial authorities to pioneer comprehensive HIV treatment, including antiretroviral (ARV) medicines, at a primary care level. Today, these clinics support over 10,000 people on ARV therapy.

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Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which is known as Doctors Without Borders in South Africa

is an independent international medical humanitarian organization that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural or man-made disasters, or exclusion from health care in more than 60 countries.

Since 2000 MSF has been working in South Africa, primarily in response to the HIV epidemic. In Khayelitsha, the largest township in the Western Cape, MSF has worked with the provincial authorities to pioneer comprehensive HIV treatment, including antiretroviral (ARV) medicines, at a primary care level. Today, these clinics support over 10,000 people on ARV therapy.

In 2003, together with the Nelson Mandela Foundation, MSF opened a similar programme in Lusikisiki, one of the most underserved areas of rural Eastern Cape. By 2005 universal ARV coverage had been achieved and in 2006 the programme was finally handed over to the provincial health authorities. At the same time, MSF was opening a programme in Lesotho based on the model implemented in Lusikisiki. There, MSF and the health authorities started a pilot nurse-based programme to provide HIV/Aids and TB care. In less than two years, nearly 2,000 people had been initiated on ARV treatment.

In 2007, MSF opened an office in Johannesburg. The new office supports MSF programmes in the region and elsewhere by providing medical expertise, logistics support, recruiting medical and non-medical staff and raising funds from the public. MSF in Johannesburg also speaks out about medical and humanitarian crises faced by vulnerable communities by sharing information with the South African public, the media, government agencies, and other non-governmental organizations.

Since the end of 2008, MFS has been assisting victims of the outbreak of cholera in Zimbabwe, and, on South African borders. MSF had set up cholera treatment units and mobile clinics during the current Zimbabwe’s historic outbreak of cholera, in which so far MSF has treated more than 45,000 people – representing 75 percent of all cholera cases.

MSF has also paid a lot of attention to witnessing the conditions of the displaced –and giving them a voice - . Through networking and lobbying we have been able to have a positive impact on relevant decision makers – in an attempt to make an impact beyond the medical care that we provide.

For information about MSF South Africa, please visit www.msf.org.za