Visiting Scholars Program

The Visiting Scholars program is one of the substantial learning components of the COE Education and Training program. The program aims to familiarize scholars with the general systems of Pediatric HIV/AIDS treatment and care in Botswana; build human capacity and encourage the development of best practices in pediatric HIV/AIDS medicine within Botswana and internationally; and train and mentor international physicians and professionals to be leaders in Pediatric HIV treatment and care in their home countries.

Every year, about 30 Scholars come from the USA, Canada and further afield through the attachment program coordinated by the BIPAI home office in Houston. Other scholars include teams of physicians and nurses from other NGOs and countries; recent attachees include delegations from South Africa and the Namibian Ministry of Health.

In the last three years the program has attracted increasing numbers of nursing and social work interns from University of Botswana; medical interns from Princess Marina Hospital and several other professionals from all over Botswana. Scholars can spend a period of 2-6 weeks to a year at the COE and Princess Marina Hospital where they have an opportunity to learn and experience best practices of Pediatric HIV treatment and care.

Botswana-Baylor staff dedicated to the mentoring of scholars are the key to the success of this program. All visiting scholars are supervised and mentored by highly experienced COE staff, working side-by-side with a physician, nurse, social worker, nutritionist or psychologist -- consulting with patients, discussing lab results, helping to diagnose childhood ailments, observing adherence classes, attending in-reach and out-reach sessions. Through this process, scholars gain an understanding of the unique health care needs of HIV infected children and strategies to address those needs.

Depending on the interests of the particular scholar schedules are designed accordingly to cater to their needs. However a general schedule that applies to most consists of the following rotations;

1) PIDC (Pediatric IDCC) - seeing children for Pediatric HIV care.

2) Princess Marina Hospital rotations in the Pediatric Ward.

3) Outreach visits to peripheral health facilities where mentorship training was provided to health professionals.

4) In-reach visits to the home of a patient where the in-reach staff will address issues a particular patient may have.