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Senegal: 'This Is My Whole Life'- A Scientist's Dedication To Defeating AIDS
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INTERVIEW
4 July 2001
Posted to the web 5 July 2001
Ofeibea Quist-Arcton
Dakar
Senegal's low HIV infection rate is the envy of other African nations and has been attributed to excellent and early planning as far back as the early 1980s. One thing that has helped Senegal to focus on, and take pride in, its national anti-AIDS campaign is the involvement of prominent and homegrown scientists, such as Souleymane Mboup.
Mboup is a Professor of Microbiology at the University of Dakar, Senegal, and is known in the field of AIDS worldwide for his specialist work on the HIV2 strain of the AIDS virus.
Professor Mboup is in charge of the AIDS Sentinel Surveillance Programme in Senegal and of his country's National AIDS Programme. He also coordinates the Convention of Research between Senegal and Harvard University in the United States. In addition, Mboup is the current president of the African AIDS' Research Network. He is a serving member of the Armed Forces of Senegal and, in that capacity, is the continental coordinator for Africa of the Civil-Military Alliance Against HIV/AIDS.
For many, Professor Mboup's commitment to the fight against AIDS, and the regional and international respect for his research and findings, sends a strong message within Africa that the continent can draw on its own resources and capacities to tackle HIV/AIDS.
"We are not waiting. We too are contributing. This is my whole life," Professor Souleymane Mboup told allAfrica.com's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton in the Senegalese capital, Dakar. We reproduce below extracts of her interview with Professor Mboup as part of our continuing series on Senegal's long struggle against AIDS.
Professor Mboup, you wear many caps. I believe you are also the person, or one of a team in Senegal, who identified HIV2 as a separate strain of the AIDS virus and the one prevalent in this region?
Exactly. Yes, with the collaboration of the Harvard Institute, we were really the originators of this discovery along with others. We were able to be the first to document the presence of this new strain of HIV in the region. [The French AIDS' specialist] Montagnier's group was the one to isolate it, but we were the first to describe and document this strain.
Since 1985, we have also conducted many studies of HIV2 and I can say that most of the knowledge of HIV2 in the world is coming from this collaboration.
How do you see the current situation of HIV/AIDS in Senegal. Everyone talks about a success story, and the low rate of HIV infection here, but how successful is it and is there room for improvement?
Through different programmes and a programme of evaluation and assessment, we have been able to document the growth of AIDS. And, for at least ten years, we have been able to maintain a stable prevalence rate of about one percent. There are many contributing factors.
First: the structural situation and stability of the country, also a blood transfusion programme started in the 1970s and a Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) programme and the registration of prostitutes.
Secondly, an early response to the (AIDS) epidemic. The national AIDS programme in Senegal was the first one of its kind in Africa.
Also, three, political will has been very strong since the beginning and we also have a regular budget from the government and its involvement and support.
Another factor was the response of all sorts of organisations and the involvement of groups in the community, such as religious leaders, women etc and awareness and education programmes that targeted certain sectors of the population, commercial sex workers, the youth etc.
Another factor is the evaluation and assessment through a Sentinel Surveillance Programme, a behaviour surveillance programme and research. I think through these, we have been able to document the progress of AIDS in Senegal and , yes, I think there has been some success. But, despite the low HIV/AIDS prevalence rate, we still have to strengthen all efforts being developed to maintain this situation.
So what are the greatest challenges ahead for Senegal?
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To maintain the prevalence level of about 1 percent (of HIV infection among adults) and avoid any increase. There are still other factors, migration, behaviour changes and many other challenges to tackle. But when you see, as I say, how widespread the response has been to the problem, we are encouraged, but we must work out at maintaining our progress.
With high risk areas such as prostitution, commercial sex workers etc, how are you coping?
Senegal has had a programme of registration of female sex workers since 1970. This was really important, because it allowed us, first, to have an idea of the prevalence rate in this population. Also, because of the system in place, we were able to conduct considerable research to document HIV1 and HIV2.
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