Gaia VF: Our Work in Providence

Global Alliance for the Immunization against AIDS

Although GAIA's primary focus is in Mali, our work in Providence is multi-faceted. Primarily, we work on raising awareness about HIV/AIDS and HIV vaccines among the community. GAIA VF accomplishes this through many different education programs.

GAIA's relationship's with student groups at Brown University and Boston University actively engage undergraduate and graduate students in the fight against AIDS.

GAIA @ Brown University

Brown University undergraduates have been volunteering with GAIA since the organizations’ inception. Students are active during both the academic year and during summer months.

For the summer of 2008, GAIA plans to sponsor 5 Brown University undergraduates students in Bamako, Mali. Under the supervision of GAIA's staff and scienfitic coordinator Dr. Annie De Groot, the students will conduct social science research projects pretaining to HIV education and prevention. We look forward to sharing their exciting research and experiences.

For three months in the summer of 2006, five Brown University undergraduates and one Brown Medical School student volunteered for GAIA in Mali. Each of the students obtained independent grant support from Brown University and other sources for their travel to Mali.Three of the students volunteered at the Chez Rosalie clinic. They provided interactive educational sessions for the women living in Sikoro. The students and women who participated in the educational sessions collaborated on a documentary that reflects on the experiences of Malian women relating to HIV/AIDS.

The other three students evaluated knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) related to HIV/AIDS in the local market. This is a critically important study that will pave the way for future HIV vaccine trials.

During the beginning of the Fall 2005 semester, 10 additional Brown University undergraduates began volunteering for GAIA VF. They are currently helping to coordinate the GAIA VF-sponsored Benefit Concert featuring Habib Koite and Bamada, to be held on December 3, in commemoration of World AIDS Day (December 1.) Additionally, they are developing a 10-point HIV/AIDS curriculum, which they hope to teach in local high schools during the Spring 2005 semester. Many of these students will be traveling to Mali with GAIA VF during Summer 2006 to conduct research and help with GAIA VF’s HIV/AIDS programs.

GAIA @ Boston University and GAIA @ Brown University students gather for a drum lesson during the summer of 2006.

GAIA @ Boston University

We, the Global Alliance to Immunize against AIDS Boston University Chapter, are a group of undergraduate and Public Health graduate students working to address the problem of HIV/AIDS by working to promote GAIA’s mission here in Boston. As a student group, we have been working to raise awareness within the student body about HIV/AIDS, to bring speakers and musicians to campus, to gather supplies and currently, to raise funds to promote GAIA’s work.

In the summer of 2006, two students from BU's chapter ventured to Mali where they volunteered in the local GAIA-sponsored community clinic. Jared Meschow worked on the clinic's electronic lab tracker computer system while Maria Victoria Albina volunteered in the clinic's maternity ward.

In the winter of 2007 the BU chapter helped organize the Ignite the Fight student-led conference which convened undergraduate, medical, public health, and sustainable development students, as well as those in allied fields. The conference was a forum for discussing and developing solutions to the AIDS pandemic. The focus was upon dialogue with esteemed professionals on issues, such as violence against women, cultural stigmatization, prisoner’s rights, and harm-reduction strategies in relationship to HIV/AIDS, with an emphasis on domestic infection. The event featured panel discussions, breakout sessions, as well as advocacy and education workshops.