Happy World AIDS Day, everyone! This year's World AIDS Day was probably one of the best that I've had: there was some good news from UNAIDS, which published its
annual report outlining the current global situation of HIV/AIDS (i.e. more people have access to life-ameliorating antiretroviral drugs than ever before); my School hosted many informative lunchtime seminars on different efforts to combat the virus and had academic conference-style booths that were sponsored by the HIV/AIDS-related research collaborations at LSHTM (it's wonderful to be around people who are, for the most part, interested in major global health events like health awareness days); and governments like South Africa, which have had a bad leadership in its efforts to fight HIV/AIDS, have announced that they are making
greater efforts to curb the impact of the virus.
Furthermore, I had a meeting with my academic tutor today. We discussed many things, most notably possible topics for my summer project. There is a great chance that I will be going back to sub-Saharan Africa! YES! I will most likely be doing the MSc summer project on HIV and herpes simplex virus, type 2 ("genital herpes", or HSV-2) co-infection. I am becoming increasingly interested in sexually transmitted infections (STI) and their role in HIV acquisition. The exact research topic within the HIV/HSV-2 field is TBD, but it will probably be investigating the availability and/or accessibility of HIV/HSV-2/STI treatment. Depending on what I decide to do and what opportunities there are, I will be going to either Burkina Faso, Ghana or South Africa!
Drew,
ReplyDeleteLSHTM, unsurprisingly, does World AIDS Day right, it seems. I can imagine that you were right in your element! How wonderful.
Also, you potential summer project sounds interesting. I will be anxious to talk with you about what you find there ("there" being any of those exciting African countries). Of those listed, you have only been to S. Africa, no? I have Ghana already on my "Where I Have Been" Map as a place I would like to visit, I don't know anything about Burkina Faso though. (I was NMUN Costa Rica that year!)
I vote for Burkina Faso! Woot!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I highly enjoyed the link. :)
Have a great day!
Kim: Yes. I have been to SA, but to Cape Town. I would be going to Johannesburg, which is in the northeast/centre-north of the country. I am not particularly thrilled by that because Jo-burg not as safe as CT. I too was Costa Rica (AYE! AYE! AYE!) during UN that year.
ReplyDeleteJim: I would go to Burkina if I had the choice. It depends on project availability and outlook. We shall see, though. I am glad you enjoyed the link (thanks for pointing it out).