“I had lost all hope and even secluded myself from society, I became hard to reach. I have nothing much to say today apart from thank you to the staff of North Star Alliance and for giving me hope and reason to live again….!!!” Says Ruth Lucas*, a sex worker from Kenya. Ruth began developing…
North Star’s operations in West Africa are expanding, with four Wellness Centres opening in January this year in Togo, in partnership with the United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA) and Togo’s Ministère de l’Enseignement de Base et Primaire (Ministry of Basic and Primary Education). The clinics are set up at four villages, namely Agoè-Nyivé, Tsévié, Pya and Dapaong, each located…
It was Red Velvet Cupcakes that brought in clients to our Cato Ridge Roadside Wellness Centre last Thursday 11 Dec. Celebrating World Aids Day and World HIV Awareness Month, the South African RWC exchanged the cupcakes for HIV tests between 2pm and 10pm, encouraging truck drivers, sex workers and truck stop community members to ‘know…
The 14th annual Arrive Alive campaign was launched in Bloemfontein, South Africa, on Friday, presented by partners Life Rosepark Hospital, Shell Ultra City Pitstop, the Free State Department of Health and the Department of Police, Roads and Transport. The road safety project seeks to unite all medical, traffic, police and emergency services workers across public…
This week, our City Deep Roadside Wellness Centre in South Africa was safely relocated to the Pomona truck stop, around 30kms away, on the eastern side of Johannesburg. When our RWC wasn’t getting the numbers that we were hoping for, our regional team took up the task of surveying the area for the next ideal location….
A 55-year-old truck driver shares his experience of Ebola prevention with guest writer, and West Africa Project Manager, Samba Touray at the Bambatenda Ferry Crossing Point . Just inside the Gambia, at the Bambatenda ferry crossing point, we meet Modou Faye, a 55-year-old Senegalese truck-driver possessing thirty (30) years’ experience playing a sub-regional route linking Dakar to…
Last week was an exciting one for North Star’s Roadside Wellness Centres (RWCs) in the North-South corridor, as our pilot program to provide antiretroviral (ARV) treatment directly from RWCs was launched. Running at five sites across three countries, the pilot will assess the feasibility of providing an effective antiretroviral treatment (ART) service to a highly…
Right across Africa, Ebola is changing the focus of health workers and the environment that they work in. For our team in Chirundu South – a Roadside Wellness Centre located near the border of Zambia – the news of a confirmed case of Ebola in The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a close neighbour through…
This month, we’re happy to announce the official opening of a new North Star Alliance clinic (Roadside Wellness Centre) in Livingstone, Zambia. Established in cooperation with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and with support from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, our new Livingstone clinic will provide a full range of…
Today, we’re excited to announce the opening of a new Roadside Wellness Centre in Upington, South Africa. Our new Upington clinic, the 32nd to join our Africa-wide network, and our 7th in South Africa, will provide a full range of primary health services, as well as key ‘tier one’ services such as HIV counselling and…
