Telling the stories of people with AIDS in rural Haiti

For 20 years, Hospital Albert Schweitzer (HAS) in Haiti's Artibonite Valley has struggled with the evolving acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic. Initial efforts to confront the disease met numerous obstacles i ncluding denial, stigmatization, powerlessness, and mistrust. Over time, HA S and local community organizations developed a new approach to the AIDS pr oblem. The first step in this approach flowed from the founding principle o f HAS: Reverence for Life; hospital staff and community leaders provided ho spice care to people dying of AIDS. Caring for people with AIDS and hearing the stories of people with AIDS quickly generated sympathy and a personal sense of vulnerability among community leaders and created a desire for com munity human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) education and prevention. Using t he stories of people with AIDS as a basis, a community education program wa s launched. More than 1,000 church leaders, voodoo priests, and schoolteach ers were trained. The majority of these leaders returned to their communiti es and started creative and unexpected initiatives to confront the AIDS pro blem.