The test is quick, the results coming in just 20 minutes. The little girl is clear of the killer virus. Scenes like this one, played out at hospitals and clinics throughout greater Cape Town and beyond every day, do not always end with such good news. The nursing sisters and counsellors at the Eastridge Clinic in Mitchell's Plain are happy but they know only too well that while this child has been given a clean bill of health, their register of HIV tests is proof there are many, many others who are not so lucky. These are the people at the coalface, dealing directly every day with the pain, confusion and anger that characterises the disease.
Most patients agree to be tested.
Dr Fareed Abdullah, head of the provincial Aids strategy, says getting people to be tested for HIV is a vital step in the bid to bring about behaviour change and safer sex practices. If the result is positive, it means the person can take steps to make sure they do not infect anyone else, and use a condom so they are not themselves reinfected. It is also important for treatment of HIV-related disease. The M decins Sans Fronti res clinic in Site C, on the same site as the Nolungile baby clinic where mothers are cared for and counselled, is one of 20 dedicated Aids clinics across the province. The NGO runs two other clinics in Khayelitsha too, but these three are the only ones open all day, every day of the week.