Prudence Mabele was a South African activist who advocated for the rights of women and children living with HIV and against gender-based violence. , Mabele was the President of the Society for Women and AIDS in Africa, Executive Director of Positive Women's Network, an organisation she founded, and Deputy Chair of the Civil Society Forum - South African National AIDS Council. Mabele was also a founding co-chair of WomenNOW! Summit on Pan-African & African Diasporan Women's Sexual & Reproductive Health and Justice. Prudence has held several leadership positions including being a founding member of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and the National Association of People Living with HIV and AIDS (NAPWA) in 1994; a founding member and former executive committee Chair of the AIDS Consortium. n 1992 spurred by the need to act against the silence and stigma that surrounded HIV Mabele took the bold step to become one of the first black women in South Africa to publicly disclose her HIV status at a time when HIV was associated with white, gay men. She was then forced to change her course of study from Medical Technology to Electrical Engineering because of perceived risks to future patients she might work with. This defining decision prepared her for a long and challenging professional life in which she steadfastly stood up for herself as a young woman living with HIV and promoted policies and programs that would benefit women in general. In 1996, Mabele through her work with Yale University and the South African Department of Health was instrumental in introducing female condoms to South Africa.

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