A study to establish the impact of the HIV/Aids pandemic on university communities in East Africa is scheduled to start in October.
Initially, the project will target 18 universities, six each in Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya, according to the officials of the Inter-University Council of East Africa (IUCEA).
The $700,000 (Sh800 million) project will involve the East African Community through the Lake Victoria Basin Commission and is being funded by the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida).
Project manager Doreen Othero told The Citizen that the study would last for two months and was aimed at revealing the severity of the HIV/Aids pandemic in university communities.
The focus of the programme will be the Lake Victoria basin, which has the highest HIV/Aids prevalence compared to other parts of the region.
Also to be involved in the study is the African Medical and Research Foundation (Amref), said Dr Othero, who is an HIV/Aids technical specialist.
Universities to be involved in the survey include Tanzania’s University of Dar es Salaam, Mzumbe, Sokoine, Tumaini (Iringa Campus), St Augustine and
Muhimbili.
In Uganda, they are Makerere, Mbarara, Gulu, Islamic, Kampala International and Nkumba.
Those earmarked for the study in Kenya are the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Nairobi, Baraton, Moi, Masinde Muliro and Maseno.
Dr Othero said the Lake Victoria basin had been picked for the survey because of its high population density and a host of cross-border activities.
With eight inter-state borders, the area has in recent years seen constant movement of multi-sectoral populations involved in various activities like fishing, education, agriculture and trade.
“The EAC seeks strategies to reverse the impact of HIV and Aids in terms of prevention, treatment and care and mitigation throughout its institutions, partners and stakeholders,” she said.
The study on the status of of HIV/Aids in the universities will be conducted from October in collaboration with the relevant national technical teams also picked for the project.
“The survey will provide relevant contextual information which will be used for determining intervention mechanisms for improvement of management of the problem in the university communities in terms of all aspects of the pandemic,” Dr Othero added.
IUCEA executive secretary Prof Chacha Nyaigotti-Chacha said there were fears that university communities, especially students and lecturers, had been much impacted by the HIV/Aids pandemic.
“IUCEA has assigned the role of coordinating the activities on the study on the status of HIV/Aids in universities and designed the implementation of the recommendations of the survey,” he said.
He hinted that the project could later be extended to other universities. With the growing number of universities in East Africa, the number of people to be screened may run into thousands.
IUCEA is a regional inter-governmental organisation whose mission is to encourage and develop mutually beneficial collaboration between universities in East Africa and between the institutions and other organisations, both public and private.
It main objectives include facilitating contact between the universities of EA, providing a forum for discussion on a wide range of academic and other matters relating to higher education and helping in maintaining high and comparable academic standards in the region.
There are 58 universities in Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya that are members of the council. Burundi and Rwanda, which were admitted into EAC last July, will soon be brought on board.
