Emma Smith, Yale University
“HIV/AIDS Treatment and Care in a Long-Term Conflict Setting: Observations from the AIDS Support Organization (TASO) in the Teso Region”
Bio: Emma Smith is an Environmental Engineering major at Yale University. A native of Berkeley, California, she entered college planning to study pure science, but after an internship at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory researching air pollution control, she became increasingly more interested in applied science and public health. Unsure of her interests, she decided to take a yearlong leave of absence from school to explore public health a development studies. She spent the fall 2007 studying at the Universidad de Guanajuato in central Mexico and completed service internships with a shelter for abused girls and with a government-run organization that provides medical care and social services to the city’s aging homeless. This past spring she participated in the School for International Training’s Development Studies program in Uganda. Emma completed her practicum with The AIDS Support Organization in Soroti in northeastern Uganda. Now in her junior year of college, she has switched her focus from chemistry to environmental health sciences and is currently conducting research on carbon cycling in the fresh water bodies and sustainable methods for removing arsenic from groundwater. In her free time she works as an EMT and competes with the Yale Tae Kwon Do team.
Abstract: The purpose of this paper was to examine the practices of delivering HIV/AIDS care and support to displaced peoples living in a post-complex emergency setting. These questions were specifically examined throughout a period of study with The AIDS Support Organization (TASO) in the northeastern Teso region of Uganda, which is comprised of Kumi, Katakwi, Amuria, Kaberamaido and Soroti districts. During the past forty years this an area which has been strongly affected by cattle rustling, local revolutionary movements, the insurgence of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and, most recently, widespread flooding. These factors make the Teso region a unique area in Uganda as it has been compromised by a series of social, political and natural emergencies, the affects of which have been compounded further by the growing prevalence of HIV/AIDS. Findings from observations of the organization and a series of interviews suggest that TASO methodologies should be expanded country-wide in conjunction with other local community education, disaster recovery, and peace and reconciliation projects.
