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Our Partner:
The
Witkoppen Health
and Welfare Centre
The Gift of Hope is proud and excited to announce a new partnership, effective January 2014, with the Witkoppen Health and Welfare Centre (Witkoppen). Established in 1946, Witkoppen, a private Non-government organization, is a comprehensive primary healthcare center serving the disadvantaged communities from the northern suburbs of Johannesburg, where unemployment is high, poverty is rife, and access to affordable health care is limited or non-existent. The majority of patients served, totaling 2.6 million, are poor and reside in informal settlements across three communities.
 In keeping with their mission “to promote and provide comprehensive preventative and curative health and welfare services in response to the changing needs of the community”, Witkoppen started an HIV/AIDS program in 1996 as patients they served were becoming seriously ill and dying. Today that program offers services to thousands of patients in a region with an estimated 29.5% HIV infection rate, including: education and outreach; HIV counseling and testing; ongoing adherence counseling and support; prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT); medical evaluation and treatment, including antiretroviral drugs (ARVs); ante and post natal care; an orphan and vulnerable children program, and support groups.
Like the Sinikithemba Clinic of McCord Hospital, Witkoppen is unique in its holistic approach to patient care. And, as a nationally accredited site to initiate and manage patients on antiretroviral therapy, it is the only facility in the region that offers the full complement of health, social and ancillary services. With a track record of more than 60 years providing vital and comprehensive primary care to those in need, Witkoppen has become an invaluable resource to the indigent communities it serves and is a model for others in South Africa to emulate. The Gift of Hope is proud to be partnering with Witkoppen to help expand and strengthen their HIV programs for women and children, two of the groups most vulnerable to HIV and its consequences. We hope you will consider joining us, as we aim to bring hope to a new community of women and children in need.
"Of all the forces that make for a better world, none is so indispensable,
none so powerful, as hope."
— Charles W. Sawyer |
Projects and Partners
