Protecting the Next Generation

Nontokozo remembers when, at 24, and just four months pregnant with her first child, she learned she was HIV-positive. “I was so afraid,” she recalls. “Terrified that I would get sick and that my baby would not survive.” At Taylors Halt Clinic in the Vulindlela sub-district of Kwazulu-Natal where she lives, the staff there told her there could be another outcome –one in which she could stay healthy and also protect her unborn child from infection. They counseled her to immediately start and stay on HIV anti-retroviral medicine. In May 2018, Nontokozo—who is healthy—gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Ziyanda. She is HIV-free.