A week on from winning the Vodafone World a Difference competition, I feel like my feet still haven’t touched the ground.

I am slowly digesting the fact that after 5 months of consistent proposal writing and planning that my dream of returning to Madagascar to set up a vital HIV prevention programme with pregnant women is going to become reality.

The success of this project also means that I am able to start my PhD in the department of international development at the renowned University of East Anglia. After 6 years of university study and 10 years of voluntary work I finally feel I am making headway on my career, relief is the only word to describe it.

So over the next year I am going to continue this blog on the MTV Staying Alive site to document my trials, tribulations and hopefully success of implementing this women-focused, social change HIV project.

Until I fly out to Madagascar during the second week of September I am going to use the opportunity of the next 6 weeks to provide background information on HIV, the social dynamics which perpetuates the spread of the virus, the situation in Madagascar and finally the responsive work of Azafady.

Photo: www.edkashi.com

HIV is fundamentally a virus and when the social and environmental conditions are right, the virus is able to spread quickly through a population. As part of the retro-virus group, HIV can only survive and reproduce within the human body and be transmitted through behaviour which enables the virus to transfer directly from one person’s blood stream to another. The three main modes of HIV transmission which occur during high risk behaviour are;

-          Unprotected Sex – Vaginal, anal, no condom – consensual or not

-          Blood to blood – Blood passing between open wounds or through injecting needles

-          Mother to baby – during pregnancy, birth and/or breastfeeding

Pregnant women are therefore deemed one of the most vulnerable groups in society firstly as they have participated in unprotected sex and secondly because of the risk that the virus could be transmitted to new born babies and consequently future generations.

Over the next few weeks I will explain how the environmental, economic and social situation combined with the Malagasy culture increases the risk of HIV being transmitted amongst pregnant women in Fort Dauphin and how they could act as a bridging group for HIV to spread through this confined population.

Ailie Judd has been blogging for us ever since she got in contact with us requesting we support her entry to the Vodafone: World Of Difference competition last week. Check out the links below if you would like to follow Ailie’s progress from a hopeful in the competition to the proud winner of a £45,000 grant for her HIV programme in Madagascar with small non-profit Azafady.

Help Azafady

Azafady – The Final Hurdle

A Tremendous Success For Azafady