Yvette Raphael

Yvette is a co-founder and co-director of Advocacy for Prevention of HIV and AIDS (APHA) in South Africa. She is a human rights activist with a focus on people living with HIV (PLHIV), young women and lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer and intersex (LGBTQI) communities. She became involved in HIV/AIDS advocacy after she was diagnosed with HIV in 2000. Since then, she has worked in HIV/AIDS education in the safety and security sector and founded two empowerment and support organizations for PLHIV. She has worked on award winning programs, including Brothers for Life, Scrutinize, Four Play, Intersexions and ZAZI.

Fellowship Focus
Yvette helped to empower young women in South Africa to demand HIV prevention interventions designed for them. She worked with the ZAZI training program to incorporate information about new prevention technologies and to mentor young prevention advocates. She also worked with the media to overcome “HIV fatigue” and promote accurate messages about prevention.

In Their Own Words
You’ll hear a lot of people say Depo is Africa’s most popular family planning method. But that’s not actually true. 'Popular' implies people choose Depo over other contraceptive options because they like it more... While DMPA is the most widely used long-acting method in many countries, including South Africa, the reality is that women are, every day, dependent on clinics where it is the only contraceptive choice on offer.

Media

• Global Community Advisory Groups Pave Way Forward for Inclusive Clinical Trials—Stories @ Gilead
• Why Africa Needs PrEP: A two-in-one pill to prevent HIV infection—Bhekisisa

Materials

• Poster - Gearing up for FACTS 001 and exploring PrEP and TasP literacy with young girls in Mpumalanga