"As we progressed I saw a whole lot of change in my patients" says Tryphina Madonsela. "Those who felt that they were dying, when we initially met, now had a positive attitude. They were going back to school. They said 'I'm getting married, I have found a new job. I'm alive...'"

Madonsela is a nurse at the Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, which was one of the first public health facilities to provide antiretroviral treatment to HIV-positive people in Africa. The centre in which she works was part of the MTCT-Plus initiative, which was started in 2002 by HIV specialists at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York. Within four years MTCT-Plus was treating 16,000 people at 14 sites in 9 countries.

Creating Hope is a narrative account of MTCT-Plus, the world's first multi-country HIV treatment programme. It describes the early years of the programme through interviews with over 40 staff members, including Dr. Wafaa El Sadr, Dr. Elaine Abrams and Dr. Patricia Toro; and participants and partners, including Dr. Kevin De Cock and Stephen Lewis.

Creating Hope was written by Lesley Lawson for the International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs (ICAP) and published online in May 2011.Read more...