Volume 6, Issue 3, Fall 2009 : The Mochudi Issue

Around the world, about 7,400 people are newly infected with HIV every day. Without effective programs to prevent new HIV infections, the AIDS epidemic will continue its relentless toll of deaths. This issue of Spotlight focuses on the Mochudi Project, a comprehensive community-based approach to AIDS prevention now underway in Mochudi, a village of about 40,000 people in southern Botswana.

The Mochudi Project:
A Community Approach to AIDS Prevention

When the United Nations presented their 2009 Progress Report on HIV/AIDS in late September, there was good news. Over a million people in the developing world began treatment with antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) last year. Tremendous strides have been made in preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Yet the news was tempered by the fact that 2.7 million people became newly infected in 2007, the last year for which estimates exist. (continue reading)

 

 

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Kgafela: Looking Forward and Back

To carry out innovative HIV/AIDS prevention work in Mochudi, strong local leadership is needed. That leadership is provided by the young Kgosi Kgolo Kgafela, leader of the Bakgatla tribe. As kgosi, the hereditary king of a tribe, Kgafela is responsible for providing leadership for his people, as well as maintaining law and order. (continue reading)

 

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Q & A with Dr. Max Essex

Dr. Max Essex is the Lasker Professor of Health Sciences at Harvard University. He is Chair of both the Harvard AIDS Initiative (HAI) and the Botswana–Harvard Partnership (BHP). Essex is the Principal Investigator of the Mochudi Project, leading an accomplished team of virologists, behavioral scientists, infectious disease clinicians, epidemiologists, mathematical modelers, and biostatisticians. (continue reading)

 

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Village of Mochudi

Mochudi, one of Botswana’s largest villages, is located about twenty miles from the capital city, Gaborone. In the center of the village is the kgotla, surrounded by traditional homes, including rondavels, thatch-roofed round houses made from local materials. A government hospital is within walking distance of the kgotla.(continue reading)

 

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