NACOSANet

Who's turning purple on 21 November? Women and LGBTQIA+ community: ✅ Don’t work ✅ Don’t spend ✅ 15-Minute standstill at 12 pm ✅ Wear black ✅ Change your profile to purple ✅ Share #WomenShutdown. More: https://womenforchange.co.za/g20-women-shutdown/ 💪🟣

This new Say It Anyway bonus episode is powerful. ✨ NACOSA colleagues Inathi and Natasha share what it’s like navigating the world with a visible & an invisible disability.
🎧 Listen: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2530869/episodes/18149236
#Disability #SayItAnyway

Reduced contribution to the Global Fund by the UK risks sending a message to other countries that they can back out of their commitments at such a critical moment. Statement by Frontline AIDS 👉 https://frontlineaids.org/uk-cuts-to-hiv-funding-is-a-major-blow-to-ending-aids-by-2030/

A nurse talks to patients outside under a thorn tree in South Africa.

Opinon by NACOSA's executive director in Devex today: Survey of organizations highlights their precarious financial situation and the catastrophic frontline risks of redirecting remaining funding away from local community response. Read it here:
https://ow.ly/mO3p50XpWtr
#FundingCuts #Aid #HIV

How can we use data for youth wellbeing? At the #PlanetYouth 2025 Workshop & Western Cape Government Civil Society Engagement, we explored practical, localised solutions to reduce youth substance use & risky behaviour.
Collaboration is key. 💪
#YouthWellbeing #MyJourney

"THANK YOU for going the extra mile to Say it Anyway " councillor Ashley Potts. Listen to his refreshing views on dealing with drug use in South Africa on our #SayItAnyway podcast:
🟢 https://ow.ly/h93m50Xj2cz
🍎 https://ow.ly/cmpG50Xj2cy
▶ https://ow.ly/K9yg50Xj2cA

The NACOSA Network Survey 2025 is out and the message is clear: non-profits are in trouble.
📊 34% have less than 2 months of funding left
💸 24% have lost over half their income due to foreign aid cuts
🧍 1 in 4 have had to restructure or lay off staff
👉 Read the report: https://ow.ly/9ZCi50XghRx

The final episode in our #SayItAnyway podcast series on Drugs and Parenting is out. The public as parent:
🍎 https://ow.ly/khQw50XfnuK
🟢 https://ow.ly/eNaJ50XfnuE
▶ https://ow.ly/bAAG50XfnuI

NACOSA presented 4 research posters at the 13th International Conference on Health and Hepatitis in Substance Users in Cape Town! #INHSU2025. These are the result of our programme work over 3 years, funded by the Global Fund. 📑 https://www.nacosa.org.za/people-who-use-drugs-research/

We've saved the best for last! The final episode in our #SayItAnyway podcast series on drugs and parenting. We flipped the script to ask – what is the role of the public in all this?
🎙The Public As Parent: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2530869/episodes/18040848

Hand washing prevents the spread of disease, especially for little people. With the support of the Global Fund, NACOSA was able to install 644 WASH Stations in 154 schools during 2024 and a further 548 WASH Stations will be installed before end 2025. 👐🏼💦
#GlobalHandwashingDay #NowWashYourHands

South Africa celebrates Pride Month in October. “I am black and I am gay. I cannot separate the two parts of me into secondary and primary struggles." - Simon Nkoli. Read more: https://www.mambaonline.com/2022/10/17/a-short-history-of-pride-month-in-south-africa/

🌈 It's South African #PrideMonth and we're celebrating two amazing organizations Gay Umbrella & PFSAQ that work with communities to challenge harmful stereotypes. "There's a difference between calling a person out and calling a person in." 🎥 https://youtu.be/v8fAlW3fE-c
#LGBTQIA+

The 13th International Conference on Health and Hepatitis in Substance Users comes to Cape Town next week and NACOSA will be there. See what we're up to 👇🏾 #INHSU2025

What's more controversial than pregnancy and drug use? The #StayItAnyway podcast unpacks the complex issues that people dependent on drugs who become pregnant face – and the difficult pregnancy, birth and post-partum journey they must navigate. 🎙https://youtu.be/uwRRAwxTM0o?si=KMdggsBNxKD7jnPF

Abstract submissions are now open for the Women & HIV workshop being held in Cape Town next year. Submit your research or community perspectives by 21 November 2025 here: : https://virology.eventsair.com/3rd-african-workshop-on-women-hiv-2026/abstracts
#WomenHIVAfrica

South Africa has strong laws to protect pregnant & breastfeeding women but barriers remain. A new research and policy brief highlights challenges & solutions to bridge the gap between policy & practice.
🔗 https://www.nacosa.org.za/realising-the-rights-of-pregnant-and-breastfeeding-women

NACOSA, through programme manager Yolaan Andrews, is proud to have contributed to the first ever Chemsex Harm Reduction Guideline published in the Southern African Journal of HIV Medicine. 📑 https://sajhivmed.org.za/index.php/hivmed/article/view/1763
#HarmReductionSavesLives

When you hear of a parent who uses drugs, do you judge or do you listen? Ep 2 of NACOSA’s #SayItAnywayPodcast explores parenting & drug use: the struggles, the love for their children, and how a new program is helping parents show up. 🎧 Listen: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2530869/episodes/17891499

Parenting young people who use drugs is the first episode of our Say It Anyway podcast. Get it wherever you get your podcasts or on the NACOSA website: www.nacosa.org.za/podcast
What is your #SayItAnyway when it comes to parenting?
#Drugs #Parenting #RealStories

We are excited to launch our first podcast ! Say It Anyway is where real voices take the mic. It's a podcast about people, their lives and the stories that shape our communities. https://www.nacosa.org.za/PODCAST/
#SayItAnyway #UntoldStories #RealandRaw

How sexual violence survivors in Africa are now collateral damage of Trump’s aid cuts Rape crisis services are suffering the knock-on effect of US funded HIV services being cut, writes Rachel Schraer

The impacts of the US funding cuts continue to devastate our partners.

Support and services for #GBV survivors, run by @nacosanet.bsky.social in South Africa, are suffering the knock-on effects.

Read more by @rachelschraer.bsky.social in @the-independent.com ⤵️
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

🐣 Every mother & baby deserves a healthy start! Healthcare is crucial for preventing complications & ensuring a healthy pregnancy. Find out about pregnancy care and why it is important. #MaternalHealth #PregnancyAwarenessWeek
👉 https://www.nacosa.org.za/pregnancy-care-critical-for-health/

Black African women bear the greatest burden of GBV in South Africa. Tackling this requires addressing historical injustices and rebuilding communities through healing and unity. https://www.nacosa.org.za/breaking-the-silence-on-femicide/

Ending gender-based violence starts with addressing its roots:
✔️ Engage boys and men in healing.✔️ Provide spaces to process trauma.✔️ Challenge harmful norms.✔️ Support survivors. #EndGBV
https://www.nacosa.org.za/breaking-the-silence-on-femicide/

"The killing of women by intimate partners is a devastating reflection of the deep-rooted inequalities and trauma in our society." – Dr Ntlotleng Mabena
👉 Read the full story https://www.nacosa.org.za/breaking-the-silence-on-femicide/

📊 Did you know?
22.4% of women in SA have experienced physical violence from an intimate partner.
From 2020 to 2024, our programmes helped 102,378 women who had experienced violence.
https://www.nacosa.org.za/breaking-the-silence-on-femicide/

We are NACOSA – a networking organization dedicated to ensuring women and girls in marginalized communities get the services they need to fulfil their potential. Our work addresses the issues that disproportionately affect Black women and girls in South Africa: HIV and AIDS, early unwanted pregnancy, mental health challenges and gender-based violence. We bring people together to connect and collaborate. We provide and enable access to community-based health services. We strengthen community health systems with training, mentoring and leadership development. We mobilise and distribute resources so that community services are sustainable and locally owned. We raise the voices of communities, empowering women and girls to be their own advocates. We dream of a more equal, healthier and safer South Africa for women and girls. Build it with us. NACOSA - Networking HIV and AIDS Community of Southern Africa

In 2025, we continue to empower women and girls in marginalised communities, tackling HIV, early pregnancy, mental health, and GBV. Together, we are driving change in communities.💪
Watch 🎥: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPmaUDji_Us

NACOSA's team met with Community-Based Organisations and Victim Empowerment Programme stakeholders to discuss GBV prevention and response strategies, dressed in black to show solidarity in the fight to end Gender-Based Violence. 🖤
#ThursdaysInBlack #EndGBV

Meet our Youth Human Rights Ambassadors. Young leaders standing up for equality, justice, and positive change in their communities. 💪🏽

#EqualRights #EqualCare