SEVENTH NEW CLINIC NEARS COMPLETION

October 2008

The recent construction of three new HIV clinics in Mbashe takes the total number of clinics built by the Foundation to seven. In addition, DWF has also extended an existing clinic and a dispensary at Madwaleni. The three new buildings are permanent brick structures, around 160 square metres in area + water tanks, thanks to funding from Adcock Ingram/Tigerbrands.

Sited at Hobeni, Nkanya and Melitafa (pictured right), each clinic contains a number of consulting rooms, a large meeting room for both HIV Support Groups and the Orphans & Vulnerable Children Programme, and a TB screening room. The Nkanya clinic also has a kitchen, as it was the only one of 8 clinics in the area without a kitchen. Prior to this new clinic, the previous HIV clinic at Nkanya was a crumbling building with no light, water and 1m x 1m size holes in the walls. Hobeni had no site at all.

The programme continues to screen over 500 people per month in the area, and these clinics will allow for a much higher take up and retention rate in treatment and care.