NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Friday, January 6, 2017

Maboe Ntsime remembers well the ordeal she used to go through to receive the regular treatment she and her six-year-old son, Motsamai, depend on as people living with HIV.

“It was exhausting because I walked,” recalled the mother, from Lesotho, where almost 23% of the population live with the virus. “If I left home at 8am I would sleep over somewhere. Otherwise I would get back after dark. I would walk back that distance with my son on my back.”

For Ntsime, the arduous trek she and her son were obliged to take was yet another painful strain on top of the condition, for which she tested positive when she was pregnant with Motsamai.

Now, however, a programme using mobile technology is making it easier for mother and son to access treatment for the virus.