Whizzkids United vs. HIV

Dr Lisa El Refaie of Cardif University, has been working with Whizzkids in South Africa for the past 3 years with the aim to deliver HIV prevention, treatment and support to young people through the use of comic strips. She has been working with Whizzkids United, a NGO in based in KwaZulu-Natal. This province has the highest HIV prevalence in the world (estimated 40.7%).

Whizzkids uses various programmes to engage young people and Lisa has worked with the young people on a comic drawing project. Participants share their experiences of HIV with counsellors and each other. A collection of comic strips has been compiled with the help of UK cartoonist Steve Marchant; they are now used to inform young people. The collection can be viewed here.

On the evening of the event Lisa used a slide presentation to illustrate her work. The slides include some on the comic strips; you can view Lisa's slides here.

Dr Lisa El Refaie is a senior lecturer in the Cardiff School of English, Communication and Philosophy.