The annual World Aids Day lecture, sponsored by Irish Aid, took place this evening at RCSI.

The theme of the lecture was ‘Children Affected by HIV and AIDS’ and was delivered by Professor Michael J. Kelly, University of Zambia and guest speaker, the Honorary Professor Sheila Dinotshe Tlou, Minister for Health in Botswana. The lecture coincides with World Aids Day.

Professor Michael Kelly, whom the annual lecture is named after, is an Irish Jesuit priest, recently retired as Professor of Education from the University of Lusaka, Zambia. He is a world-renowned expert in addressing HIV/Aids through the education sector. Over the past ten years Michael has spent considerable time researching the devastating impact of HIVAids in Africa and in particular its impact on education.

His research in Zambia and in other parts of Africa and in the Caribbean has highlighted the negative impact of HIV/Aids on teachers, on school children and on educational managers. He has also highlighted the critical role that education can play in the prevention of HIV/Aids.

Professor Sheila D. Tlou is the Minister of Health of Botswana. She is a Professor of Nursing, currently on leave of absence, at the University of Botswana and former Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Nursing and Midwifery Development in Primary Health Care for Anglophone Africa. For more than 25 years she has conducted research and taught courses incorporating gender issues in HIV/Aids, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and ageing/older persons.

She has supervised many graduate and undergraduate research projects in Botswana and for other international universities. She has been the recipient of several national and international awards, among them the Florence Nightingale Award from the International Red Cross Society in Geneva, the Botswana Presidential Order of Honour, and the Anna Reynvaan Award from The Netherlands. In 2002, she was appointed by the UN Secretary General as Eminent Person for Women, Girls, and HIV/Aids in Southern Africa.