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![Nombeko photographed on a street near her home in Strand, Cape Town, on 29 May 2024. Nombeko contracted HIV after being attacked on her way to work in 1997. “It was supposed to be the year that I was going to do [a lot]. And then HIV happened. So it was up to me to allow that to spoil my happiness or not. I decided to deal with HIV in a positive way,” she said. Antiretrovirals (ARVs) were not readily available in government clinics at the time (the South African government made that commitment in 2003). With high numbers of HIV-infected people, and low numbers of ARVs available, they were reserved for those whose CD4 count dropped below a certain threshold. “I couldn't get treatment, especially the time when I really wanted treatment…we didn’t have ARVs. We only had hope.” Nombeko joined the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), an advocacy group that spearheaded the fight to have the South African government make treatment freely available in clinics. While at TAC, Nombeko advocated for the provision of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) for people who were raped. Decades later, Nombeko is alive and healthy. She is a foster mother and she works as a community liaison administrator for the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation. She volunteers at the Activist Education & Development Centre (AEDC), a feminist grassroots organization serving, organizing and building spaces for women and girls.](https://lrmm-who-media.s3.eu-west-3.amazonaws.com/thumbs/168366_450.jpg?X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA6HVAQWUCINR6VDUA%2F20250122%2Feu-west-3%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20250122T034859Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=1200&X-Amz-Signature=d7e9d47dcfc07c35fa799211227621683f3e0f5be9dfd23a7b0db63f6961997f)
![João Luiz (right), a nurse and Technical Director of Health Services at the STI Outpatient Clinic at the Center for Reference and Training on STDs/AIDS-SP (CRT), reviews Jocimar's test results during a regular STI prevention appointment at the Center in São Paulo, Brazil, in March 2024. “Today, I have learned and know much more from living with [my partner] not only about HIV but also about other STIs. Right at the beginning of the relationship, I decided to start preventive treatment, and I feel completely secure with it,” said Jocimar. Jocimar takes part in this preventative treatment because he is in a relationship with an HIV-positive partner. Serodiscordant couples are couples where one partner is living with a particular disease such as HIV and the other partner is uninfected. Preventive interventions for HIV, such as PrEP, can effectively reduce the risk of acquiring HIV in such couples. Furthermore, for people living with HIV, taking medication as prescribed and achieving HIV viral suppression the risk of transmission of HIV to his/her couple is zero. HIV viral suppression is critical to improve health, prevent sexual transmission, and reduce perinatal transmission. People living with HIV who have an undetectable viral load and continue taking medication as prescribed have zero risk of transmitting HIV to their sexual partner(s).](https://lrmm-who-media.s3.eu-west-3.amazonaws.com/thumbs/166810_450.jpg?X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA6HVAQWUCINR6VDUA%2F20250122%2Feu-west-3%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20250122T034859Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=1200&X-Amz-Signature=d5f6c273efbf6f10aeb5c2f9859a94c2ed2c45b7db8b69eef72edf7499a93034)
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