Professor Sheila Dinotshe Tlou is a Botswana nurse, specialist in HIV/AIDS and women's health, and nursing educator. She was Minister of Health from 2004 to 2008. [1] Professor Tlou is a distinguished advocate for human resources for health issues. She is a recognized visionary leader and champion. [2]
Tlou grew up in Botswana. She attended a school taught by Irish nuns—she had a gift for languages and drama, which motivated her dream of a career in Hollywood. [3] She graduated from Dillard University in 1974 with a Bachelor of Nursing degree. In 2014 she was awarded an honorary degree by her alma mater. [4] Tlou studied at Teachers College, Columbia University, U.S., obtaining an M.A. in Education (concentrating in Curriculum and Instruction in the Health Sciences). [5] She also has a Master of Science in Nursing from the Catholic University of America. She took her PhD in community health nursing and a diploma in gender issues, at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1990. [6]
Tlou has taught at the University of Botswana since 1980. [2] From 1994 to 1996 she was head of Nursing Education, becoming an associate professor in 1999, and from 2002 t0 2004 she was the university's HIV/AIDS coordinator. [7]
Tlou represented Botswana at the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. In 2002 she was appointed to a special UN task force on girls, women, and HIV/AIDS in southern Africa. She has also provided consultancy to UNAIDS, the UN Commission on the Status of Women and the World Health Organization. She took part in the international community educator meetings for the HIV Vaccine Trials Network. [8] She served for seven years as UNAIDS regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa, where she provided leadership and political advocacy for the AIDS response in 21 African countries. [3]
She has portrayed Precious Ramotswe, the heroine of Alexander McCall Smith's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency book series, in amateur theater productions, and at one time was mentioned in media reports as a possible choice to portray Mma Ramotswe in the Hollywood film adaptation currently in production. [9]
Tlou is currently the co-chair of the Nursing Now Global Campaign and Global HIV Prevention Coalition. Now Global Campaign aims to raise the status and profile of nursing for Universal Health Coverage. Global HIV Prevention Coalition was born out of the need to address the gap and rise in new infections, despite success in treatment and care. [3] She is also Botswana Open University (BOU) Chancellor, an appointment bestowed upon her by the President of the Republic of Botswana, Dr. E. K.Mokgweetsi Masisi, from May 2021 to April 2026. Professor Tlou replaces Dr. PHK Kedikilwe, who retired as Chancellor at the end of 2020. [10] [11]
Tlou is married to Botswana historian Professor Thomas Tlou.
Following the October 2004 general election, Tlou was appointed as Minister of Health on November 9, 2004. [12] After being defeated in primary elections of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) in Palapye, she was dismissed from the Cabinet on April 1, 2008, when Ian Khama took office as President. [13]
Much of Tlou's work focuses on gender issues and HIV/AIDS in southern Africa. Enabling women, particularly married women, in a patriarchal society to negotiate with their partner for safe sex has major consequences for HIV transmission. Tlou has worked with grassroots women's organisations and national campaigns to increase AIDS awareness in Botswana. She has also done a great deal of work in reducing the stigma of AIDS and helping HIV positive people cope with their lives. [14]
Tlou is a co-editor of the comprehensive reference book for people working in the field of HIV/AIDS in Africa:
Selected other works:
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS is the main advocate for accelerated, comprehensive and coordinated global action on the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
HIV/AIDS originated in the early 20th century and has become a major public health concern and cause of death in many countries. AIDS rates vary significantly between countries, with the majority of cases concentrated in Southern Africa. Although the continent is home to about 15.2 percent of the world's population, more than two-thirds of the total population infected worldwide – approximately 35 million people – were Africans, of whom around 1 million have already died. Eastern and Southern Africa alone accounted for an estimate of 60 percent of all people living with HIV and 100 percent of all AIDS deaths in 2011. The countries of Eastern and Southern Africa are most affected, leading to raised death rates and lowered life expectancy among adults between the ages of 20 and 49 by about twenty years. Furthermore, life expectancy in many parts of Africa is declining, largely as a result of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, with life-expectancy in some countries reaching as low as thirty-nine years.
The global pandemic of HIV/AIDS began in 1981, and is an ongoing worldwide public health issue. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), by 2023, HIV/AIDS had killed approximately 40.4 million people, and approximately 39 million people were infected with HIV globally. Of these, 29.8 million people (75%) are receiving antiretroviral treatment. There were about 630,000 deaths from HIV/AIDS in 2022. The 2015 Global Burden of Disease Study estimated that the global incidence of HIV infection peaked in 1997 at 3.3 million per year. Global incidence fell rapidly from 1997 to 2005, to about 2.6 million per year. Incidence of HIV has continued to fall, decreasing by 23% from 2010 to 2020, with progress dominated by decreases in Eastern Africa and Southern Africa. As of 2023, there are about 1.3 million new infections of HIV per year globally.
Salma Kikwete is a Tanzanian educator, activist, and politician who served as the First Lady of Tanzania from 2005 to 2015 as the wife of Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete.
Thomas Tlou was a Botswana academic and historian, and former representative of Botswana at the United Nations. Tlou was born in Gwanda in the then Southern Rhodesia in 1932.
Nilda (Nena) Peragallo Montano is the Dean and Professor of the University of North Carolina School of Nursing in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She specializes in Women’s and Public Health a special focus on HIV/AIDS prevention in Latino Women.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo was one of the first African countries to recognize HIV, registering cases of HIV among hospital patients as early as 1983.
HIV/AIDS in Lesotho constitutes a very serious threat to Basotho and to Lesotho's economic development. Since its initial detection in 1986, HIV/AIDS has spread at alarming rates in Lesotho. In 2000, King Letsie III declared HIV/AIDS a natural disaster. According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in 2016, Lesotho's adult prevalence rate of 25% is the second highest in the world, following Eswatini.
HIV/AIDS in Eswatini was first reported in 1986 but has since reached epidemic proportions. As of 2016, Eswatini had the highest prevalence of HIV among adults aged 15 to 49 in the world (27.2%).
Botswana's healthcare system has been steadily improving and expanding its infrastructure to become more accessible. The country's position as an upper middle-income country has allowed them to make strides in universal healthcare access for much of Botswana's population. The majority of the Botswana's 2.3 million inhabitants now live within five kilometres of a healthcare facility. As a result, the infant mortality and maternal mortality rates have been on a steady decline. The country's improving healthcare infrastructure has also been reflected in an increase of the average life expectancy from birth, with nearly all births occurring in healthcare facilities.
Jeannette Nyiramongi Kagame is the wife of Paul Kagame. She became the First Lady of Rwanda when her husband took office as President in 2000. Kagame is the founder and chairman of Imbuto Foundation, a non-profit organization whose mission is to support the development of a healthy, educated and prosperous society.
Quarraisha Abdool Karim is an infectious diseases epidemiologist and co-founder and Associate Scientific Director of CAPRISA. She is a Professor in Clinical Epidemiology, Columbia University, New York and Pro-Vice Chancellor for African Health, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
Salim S. Abdool Karim, MBChB, MMed, MS(Epi), FFPHM, FFPath (Virol), DipData, PhD, DSc(hc), FRS is a South African public health physician, epidemiologist and virologist who has played a leading role in the AIDS and COVID-19 pandemic. His scientific contributions have impacted the landscape of HIV prevention and treatment, saving thousands of lives.
Matshidiso Rebecca Natalie Moeti is a physician, public health specialist and medical administrator from Botswana who has been serving as Regional Director of the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (AFRO), headquartered in Brazzaville, the Republic of the Congo, since 2015.
Lucy Finch is a palliative nurse who has worked in several African countries and founded a hospice in Malawi – Ndi Moyo – "the place giving life".
The Organization of African First Ladies for Development (OAFLAD), originally formed as the Organization of African First Ladies against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA), is a nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization founded in 2002 by 37 African first ladies.
Ann Elizabeth Kurth, PhD, CNM, MPH, FAAN, FACNM is President of The New York Academy of Medicine (NYAM), a leading nonprofit organization focused on health equity; she is the first epidemiologist to lead NYAM in its 176-year history. Previously she was the dean and Linda Koch Lorimer Professor at Yale School of Nursing (YSN). She is a fellow of the National Academy of Medicine and was a member of the United States Preventive Services Task Force. She is an expert in global health and HIV with work funded by the National Institutes of Health, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, CDC, and others, for studies in the US and internationally. Dr. Kurth has published ~250 peer-reviewed articles, chapters, and monographs. She currently co-chairs the National Academy of Medicine Board on Global Health, which includes a focus on health issues of national and global import.
Elizabeth Ngugi was a Kenyan Professor of Community Health at the University of Nairobi, and a nurse by trade. Her major contributions to her university's program was her research and work with local prostitutes to prevent HIV/AIDS transmission. Ngugi is described as the first Kenyan nurse to become a professor.
Traditional and Modern Health Practitioners Together against AIDS(THETA) is a non-government organization in Uganda that promotes collaboration between traditional healers and biomedical practitioners to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and provide care for HIV-positive patients. It was seen to be the first significant effort in Africa to involve traditional healers in the efforts against HIV/AIDS.
Karithi Ruth Wanjiru Nduati is a Kenyan Pediatrician and Epidemiologist who also teaches at the University of Nairobi College of Health Sciences. She is also currently leading an interdisciplinary program through the University of Nairobi School of Medicine to educate physician-researchers to best implement HIV treatment and prevention methods backed by research. The program was funded by the Fogarty Training Grant which is a part of the PEPFAR funds the country of Kenya received.