HIV/AIDS Rural Education in Central Mozambique

Abstract

PCF5 Sub-theme: Health // The Catholic University of Mozambique (UCM), located in central Mozambique, and West Virginia University (WVU), Morgantown, WV, USA have established a partnership for development of rural health care and education in Mozambique. Other medical schools in the USA now participate in this project. The Catholic University of Mozambique (UCM) has established an educational pipeline in central Mozambique. Training of teachers must be accomplished so that there are increased numbers of students graduating from high school that can go on to higher education. UCM can then provide health education programs to produce a health workforce needed to care for HIV/AIDS patients. In 2003, UCM officially created the Centro de Ensino a Distancia (CED) i.e. Distance Learning Centre. The great majority of its students are non-certified teachers working in rural areas of central and northern Mozambique. Currently the centre has 700 students studying for a Bachelor or Bachelors with Honors degree in the field of Education. Launching distance education in this environment has been difficult. Experience has shown that lack of interaction with faculty and the feeling of remoteness by the students hampers distance learning success rate. The plan (already in motion) is to move from (print-based) distance education to e-education. The cornerstone of e-education is becoming a network of community outreach centres, based at the catholic missions affiliated with UCM. These centres will have technological communications capabilities to run distance courses, and also serve as the place to exchange technical information for health workers and members of the community. // The HIV/AIDS clinic on the UCM campus in Beira has been established to provide training of students for HIV/AIDS treatment of patients. The establishment of community outreach centres in the central and northern regions of the Mozambique is underway, and the first rural HIV/AIDS clinic in a remote area of Sofala Province is operational. // Paper ID 520