28 Stories of AIDS in Africa

In 2003, Nolen, an award-winning[3] Canadian journalist, persuaded her superiors at The Globe and Mail to let her investigate and report on the AIDS pandemic in Africa.[4] She relocated to Johannesburg where she spent four years researching every aspect of the pandemic.[4]

Zackie Achmat, in 2013

The book profiles 28 Africans who have HIV/AIDS, who have worked in healthcare or advocacy, or have otherwise been affected by the pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa, noting that 70% of global HIV cases are in sub-Saharan Africa.[5]

The book opens with background material about the work of Nolen, an explanation of HIV/AIDS in lay terms, and notes that 28 stories have been chosen because 28 million people had been infected with HIV/AIDS.[5][4]

Each of the 28 stories opens with a photograph of the person that is the subject of the chapter.[5]

• Chapter 1 Siphiwe Hlophe who cares for orphans in Swaziland.[6]
• Chapter 2 Tigist Haile Michael, an Ethiopian school girl orphaned by AIDS[7][8]
• Chapter 3 Mohammed Ali a Kenyan truck driver[9]
• Chapter 4 Prisca Mhlolo from Zimbabwe who was assaulted by her own family when she told them her positive HIV status[10]
• Chapter 5 Regine Mamba, a grandmother[11][12]
• Chapter 6 Lydia Mungherera, a Ugandan doctor[8]
  

  Gideon Byamugisha, in 2012
• Cahpter 7 Noé Sebisaba, a blood donor who was surprised to find himself with an HIV diagnosis[13]
• Chapter 8 Christine Amisi a Médecins Sans Frontières nurse[4]
• Chapter 9 Manuel Cossa, a migrant gold miner from Mozambique who worked in South Africa[4]
• Chapter 10 Cynthia Leshomo of Botswana who worked to reduce stigma[4]
• Chapter 11 Mfanimpela Thlabatse a farmer in Swaziland who lost his wife and children to HIV/AIDS just months before the treatments became available to his community[14]
• Chapter 12 Andualem Ayalew an Ethiopian soldier who lost his job and who was denied the opportunity to study abroad because of his HIV status[15][16]
• Chapter 13 Alice Kadzanja, a nurse in Zomba[4]
• Chapter 14 Zackie Achmat the famous South African HIV activist[17]
• Chapter 15 Lefa Khoele from Lesotho who struggled with HIV until he was given medication at age 12[10]
• Chapter 16 Pontiano Kaleebu a Ugandan doctor working on an HIV/AIDS vaccine[10]
• Chapter 17 Winstone Zulu the AIDS activist[8]
• Chapter 18 Agnes Munyiva a Kenyan sex workers who avoided AIDS despite over 2,000 sexual encounters[18][19]
• Chapter 19 Mpho Segomela a South African child who died of AIDS[19]
• Chapter 20 Anne Mumbi, a sex worker who avoided AIDS despite the odds[20]
• Chapter 21 Gideon Byamugisha the Ugandan priest who speaks about the good things he has done, and his failings[21]
• Chapter 22 Ida Mukuka an AIDS counselor from Lusaka[22]
• Chapter 23 Anita Manhiça a Mozambique housewife who was infected by her husband, but who was accused of infecting him [23]
• Chapter 24 Morolake Odetoyinbo who is struggling to live with the virus in Nigeria[24]
• Chapter 25 Moleen Mudimu who stopped being able to afford the medicine that help keep her alive once the Zimbabwean economy collapsed[8]
• Chapter 26 Ibrahim Umoru a Nigerian activist[25]
• Chapter 27 Nelson Mandela whose son died of AIDS[4]
• Chapter 28 Thokozani Mthiyane a South African who manages his HIV thanks to USAID subsidized medications[26]

The book ends with a chapter about how readers can help.[27]

Stephen Lewis described the book as "the best book ever written about AIDS, certainly the best I've ever read".[28]

The Guardian praised the book for focusing on the stories of people in Africa, rather than USA, and also credited Nolen for linking the stories to culture, society and politics.[1]

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation described the book as "timely, transformative, thoroughly accessible" and described how Nolen writes with "power, understanding and simplicity."[29]

Bono called the book a "formidable book of record."[30]

Laretta Benjamin, an AIDS researcher, described the book as one of the best she has read, complimented Nolan for putting a human face on the statistics.[5]

The New Times of Rwanda described the book as probably the best written account of the history of HIV/AIDS.[4]

James Orbinski said of the book "Read. Weep. Rage. And above all else - like those people described in this book - find the courage to do."[3]

• 2007 PEN Canada Paul Kidd Courage Prize (awarded to Nolen for her coverage of the AIDS crisis in Africa)[2][31]
• 2007 Governor General's Award for English-language non-fiction, shortlisted[2]

The book has been published in seven languages in eleven countries,[32] including:

• Hardcover, Random House, 2007, ISBN 978-0-8027-1598-2.
• Hardcover, Knopf Canada, 2007, ISBN 978-0-676-97822-3.

• Official website