Mosamaria Youth Services

This program was started with funding from the National Lotteries Commission. We signed a MoU with the FSDoH in January 2020 and started in February 2020.

This is a mobile HIV counselling and testing service which also links HIV+ clients with health facilities for ART initiation. There is a monthly set out route for this service showing all the places in Mangaung in the community where we set up the mobile service. This is advertised on social media.

We are aiming the service at Adult Girls and Young Women aged 15-25 where the rate of new HIV infections is highest. Although the FSDoH has a policy on making services available to young people after normal hours, it is very difficult for students to access HIV testing and contraceptive methods when they get out of school after 16h00, or over weekends. We also test young men and others who come to us asking for testing.

We dispense condoms and would like to be able to offer other contraceptives to young people in the near future. We believe that all young people have the right to make their own choices about their sexual and reproductive health and we need to take these services to them.

The program is managed by Ntate Thapelo Mabule who is assisted by Ntate Katleho Marumo, Ausi Motshidisi Gabautlwele, Disebo Monyaki and Dieketseng Lekhotso.

We reach over 1,500 people per month.

HIV COUNSELLING AND TESTING REPORT 2022

The Team which had been running the CCMDD service that ended in April 2022, started providing mobile community-based HIV counselling and testing and TB and STI screening.

It was comprised of Disebo Monyaki and Katlego Marumo from June onwards, with funds received from the NLC.

The team managed to work from tents in areas of Mangaung with high pedestrian traffic through flow, especially at places where scholars and students walked each day to get to and from the institutions of learning like the Central Business District and Taxi Ranks.

They worked for extended hours to assist that the students that were going home late from school could be tested even when the clinics were closed. Every single client who tested HIV+ was given intensive counselling and support and referred to a clinic of their choice to be initiated into ART.

Disebo and Katleho kept in touch with these clients to ensure that they were on ART, and dealing with the side-effects (if any).

Unfortunately, some clinics still insist on waiting for a blood tests to be done before they initiate ART, which is completely against the policy of the DoH (Department of Health).

This results in the risk that the HIV+ client will not return for the blood test results and will not start treatment.

Outreaches were done at the request of the management of Higher Education, UFS, CUT, Motheo TVET, and several private Colleges. They also continued to support campaigns by the DoH and other NGO’s in Mangaung.