The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief has awarded a $933,551 one-year grant to Penn Medical School doctors to fight the spread of AIDS in Botswana.
The money will help support faculty, residents and students who are treating affected patients and studying and researching the AIDS epidemic.
Penn has been involved in Botswana, where about 38 percent of adults between the ages of 15 and 49 have HIV, since July 2001.
Harvey Friedman, director of the Penn-Botswana Program and a Penn professor, said in a statement that the University has taken a leadership role in tackling the epidemic and that the collaboration has been helpful for both Botswana and Penn.
"While we are helping with the AIDS epidemic, they are helping us by providing Penn students with a once-in-a-lifetime experience," Friedman said. "I am not surprised that, upon returning from Botswana, some students change their career goals."
The Nursing School is also investigating a Botswana program.
-- Nicholas Joy
