Catherine Ngcebetsha

South African AIDS activist who pioneered community-driven HIV education in rural areas through traditional storytelling

Catherine Ngcebetsha (b. 1975) revolutionized HIV/AIDS education in South Africa through her organization Story Healers. Starting in 2002, she developed culturally sensitive programs using Xhosa storytelling traditions to combat stigma and misinformation. Her 'Story Circles' initiative has reached 300,000+ people across 8 provinces, reducing mother-to-child transmission rates by 40% in participating communities. Ngcebetsha's approach integrates traditional healers into healthcare systems, a model adopted by the South African Department of Health.

She co-authored the UNAIDS Southern Africa Strategy and was awarded the 2019 Nelson Mandela Health Award. Her documentary Voices of Hope: HIV Narratives from the Cape Flats (2021) provides intimate portraits of affected families. Ngcebetsha's work emphasizes the power of local knowledge, recently expanding to Swaziland and Lesotho through UNESCO partnerships.