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An interactive training (français - English subtitles) Play video Genesis and future of the IUD (français - English subtitles) Play video		Contents of the training (français - English subtitles) Play video

IUD- Ougadougou, Burkina Faso

In 2004, on the initiative of Pr Y. Joseph Drabo (Yalgoado Ouédraogo University Hospital - Ouagadougou) and Dr Jean-Baptiste Guiard-Schmid (Tenon Hospital, Pierre and Marie Curie University, Paris), the first Inter-University Diploma (IUD) in Medical and Para-medical studies of the Francophone Africa sub-region, was created in Burkina Faso. The third session of the IUD took place between May 29 and June 24, 2006 in Ouagadougou. More than 400 candidates applied, 105 were selected in four categories: medical doctor, pharmacist, nurse/para-medic and association leader. The main objective of the IUD is to "enhance the medical care and treatment of patients infected with HIV in Francophone Africa, through the creation of a high-level curriculum comprised of several subject matters and validated by a diploma, targeting professionals in charge of infected people, who will be called upon to become trainers in their home countries". The IUD presents its participants with a dense four-week interactive training program. The first week is dedicated to the history and epidemiology of the HIV infection; opportunistic infections and modalities for care are discussed during the second week, and the third week is an in-depth study of the strategies for treatment by antiretrovirals. During the fourth week, all three subjects are placed back into their contexts thanks to various conferences and presentations given by specialists from western Africa. The faculty is comprised of experts (medical doctors and pharmacists) from western African countries, France and Canada. With an alternation of plenary sessions and group workshops, the IUD also gives its participants the opportunity to discuss their own experience and best practices. Today, the IUD is a necessary and essential stage to help Francophone Africa countries to get better knowledge of the means and ways to fight against the pandemic. The financial participation of institutional and corporate donors - amongst which the Merck Company Foundation - allows the students to be totally supported financially (trip, tuition and full board accommodation). Here are the feelings of some of the participants: Jean-Jules Kamgue, Coordinator of the PLWHA Association "Le Colibri" (The Hummingbird) in Cameroon: "Classes are very intense and we have a lot to learn... it gives me a lot of elements to try and help my friends who are taking ARVs... As people directly concerned [by the disease], after God come ARVs, and after ARVs, the IUD... I believe that salvation to inflect the curve of HIV/AIDS infection in African countries... can be achieved by attending the IUD... If people are sufficiently informed, they can duplicate it with others." Ms Mbengile Mbaye, Nurse, Women's Hospital, Senegal: "It is a really exemplary initiative. When I come back, I will share the information I have received here with my peers, and I am going to encourage them to apply in order to come and follow this training... As African integration is being advocated, we must know everything that is happening in the other countries for a better collaboration... this IUD permitted a very good integration." The demand for training for HIV/AIDS-related matters is high in Francophone Africa: each year, the number of applicants to the IUD increases. But, alas, the number of seats does not because funds - as it is customary in the world of HIV/AIDS - are difficult to mobilize. Ideally, all HIV/AIDS actors in Africa should be given the opportunity to get trained in the frame of an IUD. To our knowledge, only two countries in Francophone Africa are so far organizing one: Burkina Faso and Burundi, both sponsored in part by the Merck Company Foundation. The students of the Ouagadougou IUD go back home motivated and mobilized. Many of them wish they were able to create an IUD in their home countries. Jean-Jules Kamgue, a man of commitment and passion, has his own opinion on how some of the HIV/AIDS funds should be used: "... it is necessary to invest in sustained development, such as the IUD... instead of investing in conferences that do not bring much to people directly affected by the epidemic." For the past three years, MSD's financial support to the IUD has steadily increased, and today, on top of the funds granted by the Merck Company Foundation, MSD also sponsors the IUD's closing ceremony as well as one student. This year Dr Maman Nounou, Chief Medical Officer of Arlit District in Niger, has benefited from the MSD sponsorship as part of a community outreach program currently under development with AREVA and the health authorities of Niger. The IUD team is already preparing next year's IUD which will take place in Ouagadougou between May 29 and June 24, 2007.

Text by S. d'Aurelle de Paladines and Frederique Remy, photos and videos by Frederique Remy