Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - October 4, 2001
Jacob and the three other winners were "some of the most bold and committed leaders on the African continent dedicated to stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS", according to the organisation, which works to help local people in Africa, Asia and Latin America to use their own skills and resources to build self-reliance.
AIDS was turning back the clock on development in Africa and threatening political stability, erasing decades of progress in human development - despite experts' predictions that we have seen only 10 percent of the illnesses and deaths that this epidemic will bring, according to the president of Hunger Project, Joan Holmes. "As a woman in a society where women are not seen as equals to men... Jacob's tremendous courage has empowered others living with HIV/AIDS to come forth and speak out," she added.
Having being diagnosed with HIV in 1993, Jacob founded the organisation Service, Health and Development for People Living Positively with HIV/AIDS (SHDEPHA+) to educate people, advocate for the rights of people living with the disease, and provide them with a safe space for them to discuss their concerns. She has written a training manual, which focuses on the medical, social and psychological needs of people living with HIV/AIDS - available in both English and Swahili. Jacob has also started training people with the disease on how to live a positive life.
The other prize-winners in its Africa Prize for Leadership, which it likens to a "Nobel Prize for Africa", include: Bishop Dennis de Jong, Zambia; Hiwot HIV/AIDS Prevention, Care and Support Organisation (HAPSCO), in Ethiopia; and Padare Enkundleni Men's Forum on Gender in Zimbabwe. [for further details, go to: www.thp.org] The 13 October prize-giving ceremony in New York, USA, is scheduled to have a keynote address by President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, the only African country in which the incidence of the disease has been reduced over time.
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