Birmingham News Series Examines Impacts of HIV/AIDS, University of Alabama-Birmingham’s Program in Zambia

The Birmingham News in a series of articles published over the past three weekends has examined the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Zambia on religion, child care and maternal and child health. The newspaper also has examined the strain the epidemic places on U.S. health care professionals who are working at the Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Lusaka, Zambia, through a partnership between the University of Alabama-Birmingham and the Zambian government. In an article published on Sunday, the News profiled the life and death of George Mwape, the first CIDRZ employee to die of AIDS-related causes. Mwape's death "cast a pall over the AIDS-fighting organization," but his death "is prompting action," the News reports. CIDRZ is reinvigorating its workplace HIV/AIDS education program "to try our very best to make sure nothing like that happens again," Dr. Sten Vermund, a UAB physician and CIDRZ board member, said (Parks, Birmingham News, 3/27). The complete article is online. Other stories in the series also are available online.