Tsepang Setaka
Tsepang Setaka, a young woman from Lesotho, has experienced unimaginable adversity. In 2001, she was abducted on her way home from school and sexually abused during several days of captivity.
Two years later, Tsepang discovered she was HIV-positive after falling severely ill with TB. Her doctor sent her to nearby Karabong Clinic, whose name means "answers." The clinic was established when the government of Lesotho started purchasing antiretroviral medicines (ARVs) under Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) agreements and began providing treatment in the public sector. Treatment quickly restored Tsepang's weight and CD4 cell count - measurement of immune system strength. "Now that I have started the ARVs, I have become better," said Tsepang. "They have saved my life."
Tsepang is now a vibrant young woman who works as an "expert patient" at Karabong Clinic. Her responsibilities include helping the nurses to take patients' vital signs, providing adherence counseling to fellow patients on ARVs, and monitoring those who stop taking their medicine, as well as educating members of her community about HIV/AIDS. In April 2006, she was chosen to work with Lesotho's "Know Your Status" campaign, a national program that encourages people to test for HIV, and was trained to conduct HIV counseling and testing. For her work at Karabong Clinic, Tsepang receives a monthly stipend from CHAI.
President Clinton met Tsepang in the summer of 2006 and was deeply impressed by her commitment to turn the tide of the AIDS epidemic in Lesotho. "This young woman will do more good than I ever could, by standing there and being proud to be a living, breathing human being entitled to dignity, equal respect, and asking people to do the responsible thing for themselves and all the other people in their community and their nation," President Clinton said.
Tsepang serves as a positive role model for young people in her community, especially young women, who have been disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS. She says the support that CHAI provides has made a real impact in Lesotho. "People are now willing to be tested because the drugs are there and they know they will get the care they need. When people hear the words ‘Clinton Foundation,' they know it is something big and that they will not be lost along the way.
