Western Heads East, a collaborative health program between Western and partners in East Africa, celebrated its 20th anniversary by promoting a probiotic yogurt that fights HIV and AIDS in vulnerable communities.
The programme, started in 2002, has Western University faculty, students and staff working with partners in Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania in large part to provide Western-researched yogurt to communities in need through grassroots community kitchens.
The main bacteria in yogurt has been shown to reduce symptoms in AIDS and HIV patients and increase the number of CD4 cells, which strengthen the immune system to fight the disease. Yogurt may also provide more general health benefits. It was researched and developed by the western professor Gregor Reid and the professor of the University College of Brescia Sharareh Hekmat.
The program also works to employ women in the regions in which it operates.
There are currently more than 200 probiotic yogurt kitchens in the program and they are all operated by women.
According to Bob Gough, Western Heads East director for the programme, “women’s social enterprise and economic empowerment are equally important and have changed their lives, their families and their communities.”
Gough previously said that women in the regions where the program operates were unable to own land and faced many systemic barriers. But the efforts of the kitchens and women’s groups that Western Heads East supports have improved conditions for women and their ability to own property.
“Some women have created factories out of this and are training other women,” Gough said. “It’s just gratifying to see that kind of growth and impact of the program on the ground.”
According to Gough, Western Heads East was inspired by a speech by Stephen Lewis, former United Nations Special Envoy for HIV and AIDS in Africa, about his efforts to direct the world’s attention to the thousands who die each day in Africa from to AIDS. A group from Western attended the talk and were inspired to create the program.
Western Heads East plans to expand its operations throughout East Africa and build a new production and training center in Tanzania to sell the yogurt in local markets and reach more people.
Organizations in London are making efforts to bring this yogurt home and improve the health of the city’s vulnerable populations.
“In London, where the poorest live, there are many fast food outlets [and] fewer grocery stores. there are people [that] they need nutritious food and especially now you can see the cost of food going up, it’s out of reach for people who need it,” Gough said.
Applications for Western Heads East’s Summer 2023 Internship Program are now open through January 13, 2023, offering both virtual and in-person internships.
