African Nurses Offered AIDS Education

Baylor College of Medicine faculty are addressing the most important health problem facing southern Africa by training nurses in the region to care for individuals with HIV/AIDS.

Throughout the year, Baylor faculty are leading a series of workshops across 14 southern African countries, working with local nurses and nurse educators to convey comprehensive, accurate information about HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.

To date, training workshops have been held in 10 countries, with the remainder planned for August and September, said Dr. Nancy E. Kline, pediatric nurse practitioner at Baylor and Texas Children’s Hospital. Kline recently returned from a workshop in Kenya.

"These workshops are often attended by local World Health Organization representatives, Ministers of Health and other dignitaries," she said. "The workshops also usually garner local media attention including print, radio, and television. Clearly, there is a tremendous need for and interest in information about HIV/AIDS in this hardest hit part of the world."

With a total of 28.1 million HIV-infected adults and children, southern Africa has the largest number of people living with HIV/AIDS in the world. In Botswana, 36 percent of adults are now infected with HIV.

The program is desperately needed in this region of the world, said Margaret G. Ferris, program administrator of the Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative, which developed the curriculum in collaboration with nursing colleagues in southern Africa. Baylor’s program also provides funding for small grants that permit African nurse educators and nursing associations to carry forward the educational activities that are sparked by each nursing workshop. African nursing associations can apply for up to $5,000 for continuing education activities.

"We really don’t want this to be the type of thing where we just drop in for a workshop and say, ‘Here are your books,’ and leave," said Ferris. "We want to give professionals the resources they need to take this new knowledge and use it to better the lives of HIV-infected Africans."

Requests for copies of the curriculum, available at www.bayloraids.org, have been received from 34 countries and almost every state in the United States.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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