
Celebrity news, beauty, fashion advice, and fascinating features, delivered straight to your inbox!
Thank you for signing up to Marie Claire. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
Name: Dr. Anja Giphart
Age: 42
Job: Country director, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation
Location: Tanzania
Notable quote: "The worst days are when I see young people dying from a preventable disease."
Mention the AIDS crisis in Africa, and most Western doctors shake their heads over the 25 million people-including 2 million children-who are now infected. But where others see doom, Dutch-born Anja Giphart finds hope. As the head doctor for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation in Tanzania, her motto is simple: one by one.
Q: You're a long way from home.
A:
When I was in medical school, I got an internship in South Africa and traveled a lot throughout the continent. I knew I wanted to come back. In Holland, health care is accessible to everybody. If I practiced medicine back home, I'd be just another doctor. In Africa, I'm needed more. My skills can make a difference.
Q: How did you get interested in AIDS?
A:
Part of it had to do with feeling frustrated by seeing all these severely ill adults and children infected with the disease — a disease that can be prevented. My job now is twofold: the care and treatment of HIV-positive kids, and heading up the mother-to-child transmission prevention program, so babies are not born infected.
Q: Is living in Tanzania a culture shock?
A:
The living conditions vary widely. Dar es Salaam, the capital, where I live, is almost a Western city. You can get anything you want — there are restaurants, clothing stores, and so on-as long as you have the money. The rural regions are much more basic. We have clinics in four regions of the country.
Q: How has your family adjusted?
A:
My husband is American, and he's working with a local NGO that teaches polio victims welding skills and how to make art out of scrap metal. We have three children, all adopted. Two are from Mozambique, where I worked before Tanzania. The mother of our second child died at the hospital where I was working. We wanted to reunite the boy with his father, but the father left the hospital and never came back. So my husband and I adopted him.
Q: What's surprising about AIDS in Tanzania?
A:
That it's the educated and better-off people who are becoming infected at the fastest rate. Poor people don't travel; they are isolated in their rural villages. It's the people with more economic means, who travel from city to city, who are coming in contact with the virus and, unfortunately, spreading it in their communities.
Q: Is it going to get worse?
A:
The prevalence of AIDS in Tanzania is lower than in southern Africa. The new issue has to do with antiretroviral drugs; today, people are living with AIDS for years. So how do we care for them? For now, by making sure every person has access to a health-care provider and accurate information about the treatment program to stay healthy.
Click here to purchase the bag shown above to support the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
Marie Claire Newsletter
Celebrity news, beauty, fashion advice, and fascinating features, delivered straight to your inbox!
-
Hailey Bieber’s Chocolate Manicure Is Perfect for Fall
Espresso is the color of the season.
By Samantha Holender
-
Prince William and Prince Harry Rift: "Happy Families Are Not a Game That Everyone Can Play," Says Expert
Yeesh.
By Iris Goldsztajn
-
Pierce Brosnan Gave His Wife Keely 60 Roses for Her 60th Birthday
These two!!!
By Iris Goldsztajn
-
The Best Bollywood Movies of 2023 (So Far)
Including one that just might fill the Riverdale-shaped hole in your heart.
By Andrea Park
-
‘Bachelor in Paradise’ 2023: Everything We Know
Cue up Mike Reno and Ann Wilson’s “Almost Paradise."
By Andrea Park
-
Who Is Gerry Turner, the ‘Golden Bachelor’?
The Indiana native is the first senior citizen to join Bachelor Nation.
By Andrea Park
-
‘Virgin River’ Season 6: Everything We Know
The cast and crew are pausing the hit show in support of the writers' strike.
By Andrea Park
-
The 56 Best Musical Movies of All Time: Iconic Movie Musicals
All the dance numbers! All the show tunes!
By Amanda Mitchell
-
'Ginny & Georgia' Season 2: Everything We Know
Netflix owes us answers after that ending.
By Zoe Guy
-
36 Nude Movies With Porn-Level Nudity
Lots of steamy nudity ahead.
By Kayleigh Roberts
-
The Cast of 'The Crown' Season 5: Your Guide
The Mountbatten-Windsors have been recast—again.
By Andrea Park