Map downloaded from CIA World Factbook website

The HIV/AIDS epidemic in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) ⁽¹⁾ is rampant.  The region, including approximately 44 countries, is home to just over 10% of the world’s population but hosts more than 60% of all people living with HIV on the planet.  The total number living with HIV/AIDS in this area at the end of 2005 totalled 24.5 million.  Newly infected cases in 2005 numbered 2.7 million in this zone.  Approximately 80% of the world’s 15 million AIDS orphans live in SSA.  In comparison, the HIV infection cases in Thailand ⁽²⁾ numbered 580,000 or 1.4% of the adult population at the end of 2005.  The escalating stigma against the disease and affected people in SSA has forestalled the process of effectively dealing with the ever-increasing destruction of HIV/AIDS.  Nearly 150 countries ⁽³⁾ in the world have succeeded in controlling the HIV/AIDS epidemic without using vaccines or drugs. 

In Tanzania ⁽⁴⁾where the population was approximately 36.5 million at the end of 2005, there were 1.4 million people living with HIV ⁽⁵⁾.   The infection rate among adults between the ages of 15 and 49 was 6.5%.  In the same year, 140,000 AIDS-related deaths were recorded while the population of AIDS orphans numbered 1.1 million.

Clinic of Dr. Godrey Swai in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

The Foundation is currently in the development phase of initiating an acupuncture program (similar to the Mae On Project in Thailand), in collaboration with Dr. Godfrey Swai, a Tanzanian Medical Doctor and Public Health Specialist based in Dar es Salaam.  Dr. Swai has nearly 30 years of experience in the management and control of health and diseases in the Sub Saharan Africa region with particular emphasis on East Africa and Tanzania.  He has experienced the start of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the region in 1983 and its evolution into a disaster.  Dr. Swai is in the process of setting up an innovative clinic combining allopathic (conventional) medicine with complementary and alternative medicines with a focus on HIV care in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Dr. Godfey Swai and His Book Jikomboe

Dr. Swai has invited the Foundation to provide training for nurses at the clinic in acupuncture for the treatment of HIV/AIDS.  Plans for expansion of the program are also being discussed.  Potential projects include nutritional training, garden projects and educational programs in HIV/AIDS prevention, stigma reduction and gender equality.  The project is due to start in 2008.  Training will be provided free of charge by the Foundation.

The Foundation is also helping to print the only comprehensive book written by Dr. Swai in Kiswahili on the control of the HIV/AIDS disaster in Africa. Jikomboe is the first book of its kind written in a vernacular language.  Kiswahili is the most common local language of the people of East Africa and the Great Lake countries.  It is also one of the official languages of the African Union.  The Foundation has written a small section in this book about the benefits of acupuncture for HIV/AIDS.  We are hoping to raise $10,000 US for the initial printing of this important and extremely helpful book.

Footnotes

1. The HIV statistics for SSA were taken from www.avert.org/subaadults.htm , www.avert.org/aafrica.htm , www.avert.org/aidsorphans.htm and www.avert.org/worldstats.htm.
2. The HIV statistics for Thailand were taken from www.avert.org/aidsthai.htm
3. The 150 countries statistic was taken from www.utafitivitabu.org
4. The population statistic for Tanzania was taken from www.prb.org (Population Reference Bureau).
5. The HIV statistics were taken from www.avert.org/subaadults.htm

These websites were accessed on September 5, 2006.