AIDUCATION 20-10 TAKING CONTROL OF AIDS

About the Book

BOOK DESCRIPTION: AIDUCATION 20-10 Taking Control of AIDS. This book is about a unique HIV/AIDS education (AIDucation) teaching strategy. The strategy was pioneered by a district medical officer who worked in Zambia (1987-1990) and Botswana (1990-2002), looking after African patients admitted to the wards with various tropical conditions including HIV infections, TB and AIDS. This is a true life story of an African medical doctor who wanted to prevent new HIV infections and to give better care and support to people living with HIV infections, TB and AIDS. It is a story of an African teaching intervention strategy that was not taken seriously and called “…controversial…radical…shock tactics…alarmist…” and other names by foreign consultants coming to Africa to assess Africa’s AIDS Control programmes. The unique teaching strategy was born in 1989 at Livingstone General Hospital in Zambia with very little support from the leadership. Sheer determination, belief and vision with action has made AIDUCATION 20-10 part of the university modules on Diploma in Tropical Medicine & Hygiene (DTM&H) and Diploma in Tropical Nursing (DTN)courses for medical doctors and nurses respectively in Europe. The AIDucation initiative is 20 years old with 10 very successful years in Botswana (AIDUCATION 20-10). Is AIDUCATION 20-10 part of university courses in Africa? Not yet, as Africa waits for the consultants to give a go ahead...hopefully in the near future as AIDUCATION goes into its 21 years as a workable community teaching and sensitisation African initiative.

About the Author

Dr Edwin Mavunika Mapara is an AIDucator who has been in the field of HIV infections, AIDS and TB since 1983 in Zambia. He was one of the medical students that saw the “first” officially declared person living with AIDS in Zambia, under The Yellow Firm Unit, University Teaching Hospital (UTH) Lusaka. It has been over two decades of Pictures in AIDucation; Setting up voluntary counselling and testing centres; Teaching on TB and AIDS; Advising on several local, national and international organisations. Some of his documented “best practices” include programmes at Livingstone General Hospital (Zambia); Athlone Hospital, Lobatse, (Botswana), Botswana Antiretroviral (ARV) Therapy Programme and Community Health Action Trust (CHAT), London, England. AIDucation is part of university modules on HIV/AIDS for medical doctors and nurses studying Tropical Medicine in London. Dr Mapara has released four books on his experiences that he calls simply “Sex - AIDucation related” in the AIDUCATION 20-10 Project.