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Canadian, Austrian students to study Aids in Tanzania
2007-07-07 10:43:26
By Patrick Kisembo
Students from Montreal, Canada and Vienna, Austria have arrived in Tanzania for a study on HIV/Aids issues in order to support the fight against the pandemic.
The Pima Uishi na Matumaini (PIUMA) Coordinator, Jackson Mbogela told The Guardian in a telephone interview, adding that the team, which comprises nine people will meet Highlands Hope and PIUMA staff and volunteers.
He said among the students, four young Austrian nursing students would visit Bulongwa area in Iringa Region in a bid to show solidarity with the Highlands Hope HIV+ patients` group PIUMA.
The four students: Wolfgang Rausch, Sabine Winkler, Michaela Schreiner and Reinhard Weiser are in the second year of studies at the Schule für allgemeine Gesundheits und Krankeplege im AKH in Vienna, according to the coordinator.
Other two students from McGill University will be in Bulongwa for the month of July, he said.
The students are Alexandra Orr who is studying medicine and Mary Sweeny who is taking anatomy programme.
Mbogela said the two will stay with PIUMA volunteers and staff until early August.
PIUMA coordinator said they want to study the impact of HIV and AIDS in developing countries and compare it with the way it looks in developed countries.
``They will later see how big donors like the Clinton Foundation could be of benefit to them after comparing the HIV/Aids status in developed countries and developing countries,`` he noted.
``We want to see for ourselves the situation of the people in Bulongwa, especially the patients and the families living with HIV/Aids,`` said Wolfgang Rausch. She said further: ``We think we can learn a great deal by observing skilled nurses from Makete District.``
The students will be with PIUMA nurse Mary Musoma for four weeks beginning in August.
Asked as to how they knew Bulongwa, ``Sabine Winkler said they learned about the place at the Vernissage for the book Karibu: Welcome to Bulongwa Hospital (published in Vienna in 2006).
``We started learning more about Tanzania and decided to approach (Highlands Hope partner) EAWM and PIUMA about going to Africa to learn more about our profession.``
The PIUMA coordinator said the students will learn a lot about HIV and conditions that affect patients with untreated Aids, patients who are, sadly, all too common in Makete District, Iringa Region.
Highlands Hope is a network of two private hospitals and a patient-managed clinic in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania: Consolata Hospital in Ikonda, the TANWAT Company Hospital in Njombe, and the PIUMA HIV Care Centre in Bulongwa, Iringa Region.
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