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Tonya Nyagiro leads Save the Children's global HIV/AIDS efforts. |
Tonya Nyagiro, Associate Vice President for HIV/AIDS, leads Save the Children's global HIV/AIDS efforts in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. For nearly 20 years, Tonya has devoted her life's work to fighting the global epidemic. On the eve of World AIDS Day, on December 1, 2007, Tonya took time out to share her thoughts on how life has changed for kids in Africa since she grew up there, and how Americans can help.
1. What drew you to work in the field of HIV/AIDS?
I came into this field as my work and experience evolved in Africa. I started out working in community-based maternal and child health and reproductive health in the early 1980's in West Africa (Cameroon). This was before AIDS became full-blown on the Continent and it was still not well understood. As my field work progressed to other countries, AIDS made itself known in the villages I worked in, among co-workers, and even within my own family. I've been working in this field ever since.
2. You grew up in Tanzania. How has HIV/AIDS changed the way kids grow up in Africa today compared to when you were a child?
When I was a child, death was only something that happened to the very old or the very young (infants). It was rare to know of orphans, and those I knew of, were readily taken in by relatives. Today, this reality is much different. Whole villages are left with only the very young and very old. HIV/AIDS has wiped out the productive, working-age population.
I feel fortunate to have the childhood I had, growing up feeling well taken care of by my family and relatives. I'm saddened for the child infected and affected by AIDS. While there are many, many stories of hope, these children are robbed of their childhoods and forced early on to deal with responsibility and loss beyond their years.
3. Have you seen changes since you began your career in the way countries are providing care and support for children orphaned or affected by AIDS?
What hasn't changed is the inherent desire of communities and families to support and protect their children. Where I've seen the some of the greatest progress is in how communities now respond to the issues of stigma and discrimination; education and mobilization have greatly improved the perception of orphans and people living with AIDS. In addition, communities, in an effort to cope, have become much more organized through their own structures to monitor the care and support of orphans.
At the government level, there have been great strides in the development of national standards and guidelines for ensuring that orphans receive appropriate and consistent level of services and support.
4. There's been a lot of focus on fighting HIV/AIDS in Africa. Why should more attention be given to the AIDS crisis in Asia?
Asia should not be overlooked or forgotten. The newest figures show that Asia has the highest proportional growth rate of HIV in recent times (UN AIDS Report 2007). Looking at those countries in Asia with large populations like India, Bangladesh and China, we are talking about an enormous number of people. These numbers can impact a country’s ability to respond. Asia also has a number of complex, concentrated HIV/AIDS epidemics that can easily move into the general population. This calls for prevention and treatment efforts targeted to high-risk groups like commercial sex workers, where the epidemic is concentrated.
Despite these challenges, there is a lot of hope in Asia. There are many lessons learned to be taken from Africa and still time to prevent some of the scourge that has devastated that continent — if we act now.
5. How does Save the Children help children and their families living in communities affected by the AIDS crisis?
Save the Children works with families, community groups, local governments and nongovernmental organizations around the world, providing comprehensive care and support for orphans and vulnerable children, expanding access to quality information and services for youth, and addressing the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. We carry out various aspects of this work in countries throughout Africa, Asia, Eurasia and the Caribbean.
6. The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), established in 2003, allows Congress to significantly fund HIV/AIDS programs globally. The legislation will expire next year. As Congress prepares to take up this issue, how can people help?
Americans can lend their voice by letting their elected officials know they support this legislation, with 10 percent of these funds to go to programs for orphans and vulnerable children. They also can join with Save the Children and the ONE Campaign (www.one.org) in a nationwide effort to fight global poverty and HIV/AIDS. Our collective actions can change the lives of millions of children living in AIDS-affected countries.
