Getting Closer by Reaching Out

Our work spans more than disciplines; it crosses borders and it crosses borders and helps people where they need it most. We provide care to people throughout Africa, Latin America and Asia, while constantly building expertise that we bring back to North Carolina, ultimately improving the quality of life in the state.

Since 1990, the UNC Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases has been conducting HIV research in Malawi, where more than 10 percent of the population is HIV-positive. Though slowly lessening, the epidemic has caused widespread economic and social instability. The UNC Project-Malawi clinic started with just two people and has since grown to more than 300, working in Malawi to develop prevention programs and guidelines, as well as providing free testing and counseling for patients. The institute has been at the forefront of many of the advances in prevention and treatment that have turned AIDS from a death sentence to a manageable, chronic illness with a normal lifespan.

Malawi is one of many places UNC Health is improving access to high-quality health care. The institute’s global HIV/AIDS enterprise also includes research, clinical trials and prevention initiatives in China, Zambia, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, South Africa and other parts of the world. As we improve lives in distant communities, the research we conduct saves lives of countless others.

“The discoveries made in Malawi have made an impact across the whole world. We have shown that the work done here in this small country can have a disproportionate impact on our entire species.”

– Myron Cohen, M.D., Associate Vice Chancellor for Global Health and Director, Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases

This is story number 16 in the Carolina Stories 225th Anniversary Edition magazine.