Last year, as part of our travels around the more disadvantaged areas of Cape Town, we went to Khayelitsha to visit a non-profit organisation (NPO). This NPO is called Philisanani Community Health Club. Philisanani plays an important and relevant role in providing health services to the community of Khayelitsha.

PCHC is an active group of community health workers in Khayelitsha. This group is dedicated to developing a 'culture of health' in their community.  They do this by providing regular forums for learning about disease prevention, encouraging safe hygiene practices and providing social support to the vulnerable and disadvantaged.

Philisanani aims to reduce levels of childhood diseases and deaths from diarrhoea and other diseases which can be prevented by good home hygiene. Philisanani was registered in October 2007 with the Networking Aids Community of South Africa based in Western Cape (WC-NACOSA). They have now initiated a range of voluntary activities which have provided many vulnerable people with much needed support, directly assisting over 55 families. The club provides the following services:

1. Home hygiene training
2. Nursing assistance
3. Home based care for elderly
4. Youth group sessions in life skills
5. Crèche for working mothers

Philisanani's vision is to provide immediate assistance to those affected and infected with HIV/AIDS. Furthermore, they aim to develop a more sustainable holistic approach to enable people to manage their own health, so as to contribute to better health for all in Cape Town. 

It is important for our communities to have vibrant, well functioning civil society organisations like Philisanani. We hope to have more Samaritans to reach out to those who are in need. Health officials cannot prevent and treat diseases alone; community involvement is the key principle to primary health care. Provision of health awareness programmes within a broader society is possible if we work together at local level.

Philisanani's contact details are:
Resource Centre Library
Office no. 5
Khayelitsha.
For further details and any kind of assistance and donations you can contact the project co-ordinator (Saviour Maqaloti) @  08...