The Associate Director of the McGill University School of Nursing, Madeleine Buck, was pleased to announce today that Tanzania nurse Tasilo Mdamu is the first Tanzanian recipient of a McGill Nurses for Highlands Hope Fellowship.

Mr. Mdamu is nursing leader and pioneering counsellor in the HIV Care and Treatment Centre (CTC) at Consolata Hospital Ikonda, one of the Highlands Hope sites. He is enrolled in a two year program of advanced studies in public health in Iringa and the fellowship will cover the cost of textbooks and other learning materials.

The Consolata Hospital in Ikonda began its CTC for HIV patients in December 2004. In two years, it has managed to register, counsel, test and begin treating 1,900 HIV+ patients. This is an outstanding achievement in a district where AIDS prevalence is thought to be as high as 20%.

Mr. Mdamu is also the founding Secretary of the Highlands Hope Consortium Nurse-Counsellor Network.