An NIU professor is teaching visiting doctors from the Democratic Republic of the Congo effective methods for preventing and combating HIV and AIDS.

Ngoyi K. Zacharie Bukonda, associate professor in NIU’s College of Health and Human Sciences, received a $100,000 grant from the United States Agency for International Development to help five doctors from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The visiting delegation, which has been here since Nov. 13, includes Audry Mulumba Wa Kamba, Ghislain Disashi Tumba, Alain Kabeya Mukonu Batumkia, Crispin Lumbala Wa Mbuyi and Agustin Kazadi Mpoyi Kataku.

The primary goal of this program is to give the doctors a solid infection education, Bukonda said.

Forty million people globally are infected with HIV/AIDS, according to USAID. In 1999, 6.4 percent of adults in the Congo were reportedly living with HIV/AIDS; less than 1 percent of people in the United States have the disease.

The program includes safe hospital practices and sexual practices, and overall awareness of exactly how deadly HIV and AIDS really are.

The training program consisted of lectures and presentations from the College of Health and Human Sciences.

The doctors are not only looking to medical professionals for help in their country but are asking the NIU students for help as well.

“They need computer equipment to take back with them so they can research better,” Bukonda said.

Lack of resources will play a role in the doctor’s effectiveness when they return to the Congo, Bukonda said. They will face challenges such as limited money, supplies and education, which makes their job of educating the people that much harder.

“They are going to implement some of the things they learn but only with the limited resources that they have,” Bukonda said.

The party will return to the Congo on Saturday, ready to start talking to other doctors about the information they have learned.

Bukonda is a native of Congo and has lost family members and friends to HIV/AIDS. He is planning on returning to the Congo next year to help with the training and research.

People interested donating to the doctors can contact Bukonda at 753-4801 or [email protected].