In Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, the Chelstone Clinic provides vital programmes to treat HIV-positive pregnant women and to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT). HIV-positive infants diagnosed and treated within the first 12 weeks of life are 75% less likely to die. However, many infants do not receive PMTCT services because their caretakers lack access to properly equipped facilities or fear the stigma associated with HIV. For PMTCT measures to be effective, infants must adhere to a long-term, structured course of tests and services, difficult for many caretakers. This essay tells the story of Tasila Lungu and her son, Felix, through the first 18 months of his life until his HIV status is confirmed.
Community-led total sanitation in Zambia
Poor access to safe water supply and sanitation in Zambia’s rural areas is a major contributing factor to poverty. The relatively high incidence of water and sanitation related diseases, particularly diarrhoea, results in high health costs to individuals and communities.
Maternal and child health care in the Eastern Cape, South Africa
In South Africa, maternal mortality has more than quadrupled over the past decade. Women in rural areas bear the brunt of these statistics due to lack of transport, and inaccessible facilities. It seems likely that South Africa may not achieve the Millennium Development Goals relating to a declining maternal and under 5 mortality rate.
Paediatric HIV/AIDS in Zambia
Towards an AIDS-FREE Generation is a long-term project based on a narrative framework using photographic and audio documentation, focusing on paediatric HIV/AIDS, documenting the lives of several women as they participate in a programme preventing their unborn babies becoming infected with HIV in rural and urban Zambia.
Documentary Photography as a Tool of Social Change: Reading a shifting paradigm in the representation of HIV/AIDS in Gideon Mendel’s photography
This is a home for a work-in-progress, to distill the ideas encapsulated in my Master in Communication for Development thesis, completed at Malmö University.