Ibiyemi Fakande

Ibiyemi Fakande fosters education and acceptance among communities dealing with the effects of HIV/AIDS on their neighbors and loved ones.

Ibiyemi helps improve the life quality of people living with HIV/AIDS by providing community-based care and inexpensive natural combination therapy. The community-based care is organized in such a way that AIDS patients stay at home and are attended to by family members and a network of other HIV-positive people. This program spares the participants the loneliness and sense of isolation that many other ill people suffer. They meet periodically in a community center to share experiences and draw strength from each other, also planning for the continued support of their children and spouses in the event of their own deaths. In addition to improving care for people living with AIDS, Ibiyemi works with a professor of pharmacology to identify a number of cheap and effective remedies for the infections AIDS patients contract and provides information on healthy eating and exercise.

Due to the devastating impact of the AIDS virus in Nigeria, vast resources have been dedicated to awareness campaigns to help reduce the risk of infection. Very little has been done, however, to care for those who currently live with the virus. All existing care allows only information on the types of orthodox drugs available, many of which cost far more than the patients can afford. People with HIV/AIDS are widely considered a lost cause, not worth the expenditure of money and energy. There is still a lot of ignorance and superstition in Nigeria surrounding AIDS, resulting in patients being stigmatized, discriminated against, and ostracized. Many AIDS sufferers die a social death long before the virus claims their lives. Additionally, the virus continues to spread due to lack of education and information at the individual, family, and community levels.

Ibiyemi began her work with Aids by caring for patients in the hospital where she worked. After patients' heath stabilized, she would take them home to their families and train their relatives in how to care for them. She sets a standard visitation schedule so that the patients can be monitored by professionals and not lose contact with the outside world.Due to the lack of resources and staff, she developed a program by which healthcare professionals train HIV-positive people and people living with AIDS to be each others' service practitioners. Those who are not ill visit those who are, administering medication and providing support. She also developed a forum where program participants could meet periodically to share experiences and plan for the future. Group members also make plans for the care and emotional and financial support of their children in the event of their deaths. Their family members are invited to attend these meetings and are also able to meet and interact with other families dealing with AIDS. In order to provide people living with AIDS a better quality of life, Ibiyemi teamed up with a pharmacologist from the University of Ife, who helps with the research and preparation of inexpensive and practical alternative medicines. With her discovery of local remedies, Ibiyemi has been able to improve the health and increase the life span of hundreds of patients otherwise unable to afford corporate pharmaceuticals. Ibiyemi's strategy also includes a hospice for the patients' care. Many new and old patients that seek her services are experiencing crisis and often need immediate attention. However, because of the negative disposition of medical personnel toward these patients, the atmosphere is not conducive to their treatment. Ibiyemi's program trains participants in professional medical care, building a team of experienced AIDS service providers and HIV-positive group members to staff Nigeria's first and only emergency AIDS hospice.

Ibiyemi graduated from nursing school in 1982 and received additional training from the University of Ibadan in 1991 to qualify her as a public health officer, specializing in sexually transmitted diseases. In the same year, Ibiyemi attended a European Union-funded training program on caring for HIV/AIDS patients, which kindled her interest in caring for people living with AIDS. For the next several years, she built on her knowledge and experience by researching and experimenting with alternative medicines and nutritional supplements. By 1995, she had shaped her research, experience, and observations into a very effective and inexpensive method of treatment. She has also written several articles including "Psychological Handling of HIV Seropositives: The Place of People Living With AIDS as Peer Health Educators/Counsellors" and "Low Cost Nutritional Support for People Living with AIDS," published in the internationally recognized Nigerian Journal of Medicine. Ibiyemi is very committed to the work she is doing and is relentless in her effort to see an improvement in the lives of people living with AIDS.