Courage and Hope: African teachers living positively with HIV.

Simultaneous launch in Dakar and Geneva of a book and a film recounting, in their own voices, the experiences of teachers living positively with HIV

Simultaneous launch in Dakar and Geneva of a book and a film recounting, in their own voices, the experiences of teachers living positively with HIV.An estimated 122,000 teachers in sub-Saharan Africa living with HIV have been given voice in a collaborative project by the World Bank and African Ministries of Education networks of HIV/AIDS focal points. The output is a book titled "Courage and Hope:

Stories from Teachers Living with HIV and AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa" that has been turned into a documentary film produced by the Partnership for Child Development with support by the World Bank. The vast majority of teachers living with HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa are unaware of their status, and many are reluctant to undergo HIV testing for fear of consequences of a positive test outcome.

The book, written by African journalists, tells the life stories of twelve teachers from Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania  and Zambia, who vividly recount their experiences that testify to ordinary yet courageous life with HIV and the impact their HIV status has on their, families, schools and communities.

The film show cases the voices of four of these courageous teachers (Beldina Atieno, Martin Mkug Ptoch, Jemimah Nindo, and Margaret Wambete), and it details the challenges they face once their positive status becomes public. These range from stigmatization to shunning and discrimination against them and their families.  All four of these teachers are expected to be in Dakar for the launch.

Despite the hurdles the teachers face, they are confident that accessing effective care, support and anti retroviral medicines, they are able to live, and to enjoy full and healthy lives.