Ten East African physicians with an expertise in AIDS research, prevention and treatment recently participated in a unique program that provides a forum for the exchange of ideas and advances consultation and collaboration between Israeli and African universities and hospitals.
The sponsors – the American Jewish Committee's Project Interchange, the Israeli AIDS Consortium in Africa and MASHAV-The Israel Center for International Cooperation -- believe the program will help expand Israeli and African medical interaction and highlight Israel's medical knowledge in this field in particular, and in global public health issues in general.
Dr. Mark Weinberg, Director of McGill University’s AIDS Center and former president of the International AIDS Society, joined African leaders from Botswana, Ruanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya at meetings with Israeli experts to discuss further progress in the field. During the seminar participants toured the Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem, the Sourasky and Sheba Medical Centers in Tel Aviv and Israel's Center for International Cooperation in Shefayim where they met with their medical counterparts and conferred on other issues of regional concerns.
Project Interchange
Project Interchange, an educational institute of the American Jewish Committee, conducts seminars in Israel for current and emerging American and international leaders. Founded in 1982, Project Interchange has brought over 5,000 influential figures from more than 60 countries to Israel, offering them broad exposure to the complex issues facing Israel and the region.
Project Interchange has brought over 5,000 influential figures to Israel from more than 60 countries and various key fields for intensive week-long seminars. Project Interchange participants are involved in area that influence policy and public opinion — such as journalism, politics, health care, security, and academia — and represent various religions, backgrounds, and points of view. The one-week program enables them to become better acquainted with Israel and its residents and enables them to initiate contact with colleagues in their respective fields.
The Israeli AIDS Consortium in Africa
Founded in 2005 to help African universities, research institutes and government agencies combat AIDS and promote other medical concerns. The Consortium’s main activity is training and mentoring African medical personnel in AIDS prevention, treatment and clinical research. During the past five years most of the Consortium’s activities took place in Ethiopia, but now their efforts have expanded to other East African countries.
The consortium was founded by Dr. Dan Turner, head of the AIDS Center at Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv, Prof. Dan Engelhard, head of the Department of Pediatrics at Hadassah University Hospital-Ein Kerem, Prof. Zehava Grossman, head of the AIDS labs at Sheva Hospital and Prof. Shlomo Maayan, head of the AIDS Center at the Hadassah University Medical Center.