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Left to
right. Dr. Elbushra Ali Herika
- UK, Dr. Zahir Osman Eltahir
- UK, Dr. Abdul karim Gibril
Elgoni - South Africa, Dr.
Hamad A. Hadi - UK
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Khartoum,
11 August 2008: Sudanese HIV/AIDS
specialists who live and work in
the UK and South Africa began a
venture that could significantly
improve the fight against the epidemic
in Sudan. On 10 August they launched
the London-based Sudan HIV/AIDS
Working Group (SHAWG); a voluntary
network of healthcare professionals
who seek to help roll back the epidemic
in the country.
It
all started last year, when Dr.
Bushra Herieka joined the Transfer
of Knowledge Through Expatriate
Nationals (TOKTEN)
project, an initiative launched
in 2006 by the UN Development programme
(UNDP), with the support of the
Netherlands and the UK’s Department
for International Development with
the aim to bring back to the country
the expertise of some 3,426 highly
qualified Sudanese professionals
living abroad. On October 2007,
Dr Hereika , who resides in the
UK and works as a consultant in
the genito-urinary medicine in Bournemouth,
volunteered three weeks to help
Sudan National AIDS Control Program
(SNAP) improve the quality of clinical
services of HIV/AIDS.
During
this TOKTEN sponsored visit, Dr.
Hereika was granted free access
to all medical files in the Ministry
of Health and visited a number of
medical centers in Um Durman, Basahir,
Cober as well as the Al-Ribat Hopital.
He was overwhelmed by what he saw
and learned during this visit:
“
When I realized that there are some
600,000 HIV cases in Sudan, out
of which only 2100 , have access
to medical services, I was devastated
and kept wondering: where are the
580,000 others? How are they living
with HIV? Are they in a way or another
spreading it? As there were no answers
to many questions, I was overwhelmed
by frustration and sadness. I immediately
felt that something has to be urgently
done.”
Upon his return to the UK, Dr. Hereika
shared his knowledge and deep concerns
with a number of Sudanese expatriates
who are also HIV/AIDS specialists.
The latter immediately expressed
their readiness to join the fight
by transferring their knowledge
to their fellow compatriots. On
April of this year SHAWG came to
existence and a website was launched:
www.shawg.org
“We
want to arm Sudanese health workers
across Sudan with the necessary
knowledge to tackle the epidemic
in the best possible way. We hope
that more Sudanese and non –Sudanese
would join us in this life-saving
fight.” said Dr. Hereika whose
call did not go unheard. He was
joined by Dr Zahir Babiker, a specialist
in infectious diseases and virology
in Manchester, Dr. Hamad Abdelhadi
a specialist in infectious diseases
in Newcastle, and Dr. Abdel-Kareem
Elgoni, consultant for Health System
Trust in South Africa’s capital
Johannesburg.
The
4 men joined the TOKTEN initiative
as HIV/AIDS advisors. They volunteered
three weeks during which they collectively
trained over 60 Sudanese clinicians
from 15 northern states on how to
better screen, diagnose and treat
people living with HIV. The training
was conducted in partnership with
SNAP and WHO, and funded through
the UNDP managed Global Fund to
Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and
Malaria grants. These total of these
grants amount to $ 32,5 million
over the 2005-2008.
.
The 4 expatriates are now outlining
a plan including recommendations
to improve the HIV care and treatment
services especially in the areas
of human resources development;
HIV quality control; patients monitoring
and follow-up; service promotion
and scale up in the health care
settings. SNAP counts on this initiative
to strategically address the human
resources capacity in Sudan and
bridge the existing gaps in knowledge
and skills in the country.
“Although
Sudan has made big strides in dealing
and talking about HIV, the issue
is still very sensitive. For us,
for doctors, and for any patient,
it makes a huge difference to have
Sudanese experts as HIV advisors.
People trust them because they speak
the same language, they know the
cultures and have no other objective
but to help. We are grateful to
the TOKTEN initiative for helping
us tap into the knowledge and expertise
of Sudanese expatriates”,
said Mr. Mohamed Abdel Hafeez, Director
of SNAP.
Indeed
unlike many counties in the region,
instead of denying the existence
of the epidemic, Sudan decided to
face it. The country’s religious
leaders are in favour of the use
of condoms. According to SNAP, 94
free Voluntary Counselling and Testing
Centres, 35 HIV/AIDS care and treatment
centres have been established and
equipped across 15 northern states,
in addition to 7 prevention mother-to-child
transmission centres. However, so
far only 2,100 HIV/AIDS patients
have been tested and are receiving
free antiretroviral treatment kits
that are worth 35 dollar in the
Sudanese market and cover a one
month treatment.
Through
the UNDP managed Global Fund resources,
HIV sophisticated equipment are
being procured, but setting up HIV
services requires an expertise that
is not often available in the country.
SHAWG with the assistance of UNDP
and SNAP, are helping bridge the
capacity gap. TOKTEN project covers
the travel and living expenses for
any highly qualified professional
expatriate who fulfils the selection
criteria outlined in the project’s
web page ( http://www.sd.undp.org/projects/tokten.htm
)
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