This project will provide for HIV testing kits for one week at Mpilonhle’s mobile health units (a Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project sponsored initiative). The mobile units provide HIV testing to students in schools, as well as serving community members when school is not in session.

Approximately 240 people in KwaZulu-Natal receive testing (12,500/year) from Mpilonhle’s mobile health units. Testing kits are a crucial element of the Mpilonhle program, as it is essential that people know their HIV status, so they can get treatment if they are infected, or reassure themselves and protect themselves from being infected if they are HIV negative.

The Umkhanyakude District is one of the poorest and least developed districts in South Africa. Children growing up here have close to a 50% chance of being infected with HIV during their lifetime.

One of 11 District Municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa, Umkhanyakude spans an area of 13,000 square kilometers, and has a population of 575,000. While South Africa as a whole has experienced rapid economic growth since the arrival of democracy in 1994, rural areas such as Umkhanyakude have lagged behind. For example, in Umkhanyakude:
• 98% of persons live in rural homesteads
• 77% of persons live below the poverty line
• Adult unemployment is 67%
• Per capita income is less than 1/3 of the national average.

While many areas of South Africa, especially urban areas, resemble middle class areas in Europe and North America, the profile of the Umkhanyakude District is closer to that of the rest of Africa:
• Only 10% of households are within 15 minutes' travel time of a health clinic,
• only 22% have access to safe water, and
• only 19% have access to use of electricity for lighting.

These are the lowest percentages of any District in KwaZulu-Natal province. Not surprisingly, the District has the lowest score of any KwaZulu Natal district on the United Nation's Human Development Index.

Community member details not available yet.

Direct Impact of Your Project

-240 people will receive testing from Mpilonhle mobile unit
-Soka University students gain personal insight and experience from their fieldwork collaboration with Mpilonhle, and are able to continue an awareness campaign locally in Southern California

In addition to HIV testing, individuals in the Umkhanyakude community have access to the primary healthcare nurse and social worker or psychologist that travel with the each of the mobile units. The mobile units also provide student ID cards, computer training, and other education enrichment opportunities to the communities they visit.

Extended Impact on Your Partner Community

-Increased awareness of HIV/AIDS (an extreme public health issue)
-Those who tested HIV positive are able to receive treatment from the mobile units
-Those who tested HIV negative will be able to protect themselves from future infection
-Visitors to the mobile units can also receive computer training
-Visitors to the mobile units also have access to social workers, psychologists, and general health resources
-Future students from Soka University may be able to return to do collaborative fieldwork with mobile units, since this relationship has been initiated—continued cultural exchange

The entire population of Umkhanyakude will indirectly benefit from this project, as HIV/AIDS is such an extreme public health issue in South Africa. Because over 10,000 people receive HIV testing from the CTAOP supported mobile units each year, more and more individuals are able to know their HIV status, and stop spreading infection or prevent themselves from future infection.