This Friday, May 30, MSF is celebrating the second year of a highly successful HIV/AIDS programme established in a poverty situation in South Africa where fear and uncertainty were major barriers. On May 24, 2001, the first MSF patients started taking anti-retroviral treatment (ART) for HIV/AIDS.

The project was in the South African township of Khayelitsha and has been a model of ART in poverty settings. It has been cited as the first example of the World Health Organisation's 'best practice' series on antiretroviral therapy provision in resource poor settings at the 56th World Health Assembly.

Since the project has started, the number of recipients have increased each month by another 20 people per month. The number of people who have benefitted has increased with advances in the use of generic drugs, proving wider coverage for the same price.

Today over 400 people living with HIV/AIDS are on the Khayelitsha project. On Friday May 30, MSF shall be celebrating the success of the project with events in the township. In addition, the website shall have a series of profiles of people on the Khayelitsha ART programme.

Visit this website this Friday for more information posted throughout the day. You can send MSF a letter of support for the HIV/AIDS activities in South Africa to the following address: [email protected]