Benjamin Lawrance has seen firsthand how tragic the AIDS pandemic has become in Africa, where an estimated 22.5 million people are infected with HIV. He’s particularly frustrated that few people work to prevent the spread of HIV among African high school and college students.
Lawrance, PhD ’01, wants to adapt the techniques he learned in his five years working with Stanford’s HIV peer counseling program for universities in sub-Saharan Africa. The Stanford system, which includes anonymous testing and pre- and post-test counseling, has been recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a model. But there are no HIV counseling programs at African universities, Lawrance says, “and I think I have a project that will work.”
He has outlined his approach in a position paper titled “Jeunes pour jeunes: strategies for combating the spread of HIV/AIDS among African students.” The paper cites hurdles to be overcome at African institutions—cultural taboos, institutional dysfunction, lack of technology and threats from the military—and suggests incentives that could be used to enlist students.
Lawrance has published the paper on the web in the hope that African students will read and implement it. He’d also like to attract $15,000 in annual funding to establish a program in Togo, where he conducted research for his doctorate in African history, and where the director of the national HIV and std testing facility has endorsed his project. “There’s nothing more frustrating in terms of development work in Africa than to have people parachute in, organize and leave,” Lawrance says. “That’s why we need an internal program—something that’s run by students for students.”
