Learn about KAT - The Keiskamma Aids Treatment Program

The Keiskamma Health Programme works in the Peddie district of the Eastern Cape to provide comprehensive and compassionate care for people affected by HIV/AIDS. We do this in several ways: through a network of dedicated village health workers at the Umtha Welanga Treatment centre, through prevention and education programmes and in conjunction with the work of Dr. Carol Baker, the only primary health care doctor for 10 villages in our area.

There are currently 5. 7 million South Africans infected with HIV.
280 000 of them are children.
Over 1.4 million children have been orphaned by AIDS.
1000 South Africans die every single day because of AIDS related illnesses.
In our district of Peddie 35% of pregnant women are HIV positive.

The Keiskamma Health Programme Overview

The Peddie district of Eastern Cape has approximately 200,000 people living mostly in rural villages in an area of approximately 3600 square miles. The unemployment in this area is as high as 90% and the majority of people live off government grants or old age pensions of grandparents. Access to medical treatment is severely restricted by poverty and inability to travel to sites offering care.

The Keiskamma Health Programme began in 2005 when AIDS counsellor Eunice Mangwane and Dr. Carol Baker began to provide ARVs (Anti-retroviral) and palliative care to AIDS patients in their own homes and with their own funds, with help from a handful of supporters. It soon grew to become the Umtha Welanga Treatment Centre which has to this date initiated over 700 patients and boasts an adherence success rate of over 90%. The programme also employs 43 village health workers who have home-based care training, and are often ex-patients themselves, with first hand and expert knowledge of HIV/AIDS.

Building capacity in local structures is one of our major priorities. We are already integrated to a high degree with the local primary care clinics, and have built a solid relationship with our local hospital. We are proud of the fact that our involvement is one of the factors that has led to the hospital receiving accreditation as an ARV rollout site.

Learn more about The Keiskamma Aids Treatment Program at http://www.keiskamma.org/health.