Modern ART for South Africa

Modern ART is here to provide clear, easy and accurate information about HIV treatment and care in South Africa.

• What is Modern ART for South Africa?

  Everyone with HIV needs to take HIV treatment – called antiretroviral therapy, ART or ARVs

  Everyone with HIV needs to take HIV treatment – called antiretroviral therapy, ART or ARVs

  Modern ART is here to provide clear, easy and accurate information about HIV treatment and care in South Africa.

  We aim to give you all the basic information you need to get the best out of your HIV treatment and care.

  This includes information for people living with HIV who are starting ART for the first time, and in different circumstances such as pregnancy or if you need to switch treatment. We also look at other infections like TB and COVID-19.

  And we have information on PrEP to help negative people avoid getting HIV.

• Why “Modern ART”?

  Modern ART stands for “modern antiretroviral treatment”. Despite many campaigns to educate people about HIV, there is still a lot of stigma in our communities. We decided to name the project Modern ART and use vibrant colours and exciting designs to get the message out.

• How it all began…

  Modern ART started in 2017 to support the transition to dolutegravir in South Africa with community materials – and to support a study of the same drug. The study – called the ADVANCE trial – compared two dolutegravir-based ART combinations to an efavirenz one. The project has been funded by Unitaid since the start.

• A collaboration

  Modern ART is a collaboration between the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and HIV i-Base. Our materials are developed by HIV treatment activists and trainers, along with communication professionals – and reviewed by medical professionals and people living with HIV.

• About TAC

  TAC is a South African health NGO. TAC engages in monitoring, advocacy, and campaigning to ensure that all public healthcare users can access quality and dignified healthcare – and that people living with HIV and TB can access prevention, treatment, care and support services.

  TAC was founded during the AIDS crisis in 1998 and has been pivotal in the activism and litigation that ensured that SA today has the largest free ART programme in the world. The organisation has over 8,000 members and a network of 182 branches and provincial offices in seven of South Africa’s nine provinces.

• About HIV i-Base

  HIV i-Base is a UK-based HIV treatment activist charity, founded in 2000, that produces information about advances in treatment for both health workers and people living with HIV. This includes technical and non-technical publications and a Q&A service. All resources are produced by and with the involvement of people living with HIV  and are reviewed by a medical advisory group.

  We believe that every person with HIV should be able to be as actively involved in their own care as they want to be, including in making decisions about treatment.

• The library is open!

  We have made videos, booklets, posters, a website and an app. More than a million of our leaflets have been distributed to communities across South Africa, and many public clinics and hospitals display our posters.

  We also do regular community events where we connect with people and give them information while our team of graffiti artists creates murals.

  You can find our materials on our website and through our app.

• Printed materials

  We have these booklets available:

  • Starting ART
  • ART, pregnancy & women’s health
  • ART & TB
  • Switching & second line ART
  • Advanced HIV disease
  • HIV & Covid-19
  • HIV & Covid-19 vaccines
  • The Covid-19 Pfizer vaccine
  • The Covid-19 Johnson & Johnson vaccine
  • The Modern Art for South Africa app
  • About Modern ART
  • Add PrEP when we have a title!

  And posters:

  • Starting ART
  • ART, pregnancy & women’s health
  • ART & TB
  • Switching & second line ART
  • Advanced HIV disease
  • ART packaging in South Africa

• Community events

  We organise vibey pop-up events in communities all over South Africa. Come and get some treatment information and check out our amazing graffiti artist friends as they create eye-popping murals! Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to see where the next event will be!

• An app, a website and video

  Download our free app and carry all the info you need in your pocket! The website and the app contains all of the printed information too. The website and app are both zero rated – meaning that you do not need any data* to access the website or use the app and you can watch our informative videos for free on the website.

  * Downloading the app from Google Play, Apple App Store or Hauwei gallery will require data until the end of 2021. Please note that watching videos on our YouTube channel will use your data

• Handy app tools

  The app offers some handy treatment adherence tools which will help you with taking your ART. You can set up reminders, track when you take your ART, set up a pill counter that reminds you to stock up when you get low, and also test result trackers and reminders.

  To use these, you only need an email address to allow you to set up a profile. We adhere to very strict privacy and security measures and will never share your information with anyone else.

• South Africa... and beyond

  Most of our activities are in South Africa, but some of our materials have been used by community organisations in other countries on the continent. Please contact us if you are interested in our materials!

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