In primary school my friends and Iwould play you are “it”. The 4th person was “it” because they had HIV/AIDs. This was in the 90s. An entire generation of young, brilliant, beautiful Africans died from the HIV pandemic. The Shona word for the illness was Shuramatungo an illness so terrible it had no name or origin. More than 36 million died. Doctors sent sick people home to receive “TLC” they could not do anything for them. African doctors where aware of medical advances in the West but the medication was too expensive. This is until 2003. In 2003, George Bush announced an initial $15 billion fund to help fight HIV. According to the U.S. State Department records, more than 25 million lives were saved because of PEPFAR.

I am part of a research team of scholars who are studying the global impact of PEPFAR on the HIV crisis. We have been collecting the Global Oral Histories of PEPFAR.

I spent summer of 2026 immersed in this work. I am in awe of the powerful collaboration between the United States and countries around the world to combat this awful illness. As I write about HIV I feel indebted to ordinary people who became heroes, especially, the doctors, educators, volunteers and many more in my country of birth Zimbabwe. You can watch our interviews here. This is possibly the most meaningful academic work I have done in my life. I am eternally grateful to my good friend Professor Jill Kelly for bringing me on board.

I am now working on a book manuscript currently titled, “How HIV/AIDS under developed Africa”.