Local Training | Spotlight on the AAEDA International Healthcare Worker Training Program

One of the most important programs of the Arthur Ashe Endowment for the Defeat of AIDS is the International Healthcare Worker Training Program. Arthur Ashe always referred to himself as a Citizen of the World and this program embodies that idea. Every year eight physicians involved with HIV/AIDS work from countries all around the world are brought to New York City for a four-week program about clinical management of HIV/AIDS. The physicians tend to be selected from countries and areas that have been particularly hard hit by the AIDS epidemic.

With airfare and housing provided for by the AAEDA, the fellows embark on programming around the city at New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center and other HIV units around New York City. After completion, fellows return to their nation with improved techniques and strategies that they can then apply to the clinics and hospitals where they work. The training pays forward, both by directly helping their patients and by introducing better practices to their colleagues which they can in turn use for more patients. As of the end of this year, 98 healthcare workers have been trained through the program who have come from more than 38 countries around the world, with the majority hailing from countries in Africa and Asia.