Tutu finally meets his Tester! – 22 October 2009

Although the Archbishop Tutu gave his name to the Tutu Tester, he had not yet been on board. Until today. This was his first opportunity to get behind the wheel of “his” van and see the staff of the Tutu Tester in action as staff employed in the surrounding businesses had the opportunity to visit the unit and utilise its counselling and testing services.  The Tutu Tester was launched in May 2008 as a project of the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation through the generosity of the Metropolitan Health Group.  Since then a small team of dedicated staff under the leadership of Dr Nienke van Shaik have provided comprehensive and efficient care to more than 10 800 people in many under-serviced communities in the greater Cape Town area.

HIV testing is done on the Tutu Tester HIV testing as part of a prevention wellness package that includes screening for diabetes, hypertension and obesity. The unit also offers TB testing and CD4 counts to all those that test positive for HIV.