If you look at the poster behind her, you'll see the main reason that Dia is in Botswana. She studied Public Health Education at SUNY Brockport and her area of interest has always been women's reproductive health.
Botswana's is a large country with a tiny population - barely 2.2 million people. The major threat to public health is HIV.
Between 20 and 25% of the adult population are HIV positive.
There are 67,000 orphans due to AIDS, and more than 5,000 people die from the disease every year.
Botswana has the means to educate and treat the people, and has taken many steps to manage this epidemic. In 2002 Botswana became the first country in Africa to make anti-retroviral drugs available to those already infected. Their maternal-child transmission rate has dropped from 40% to 4%. Click on the link above to listen to an NPR story about what they've been able to do.
At the request of Botswana's government, all 162 Peace Corps volunteers in the country are working on HIV - related issues. Dia works at a small clinic in Sefphofe. What does she do there?
Very good question.
No comments:
Post a Comment