Behind this white door in Gaborone, Botswana, children in sub-Saharan Africa gained their first access to antiretroviral treatment for HIV when the BANA (Botswana- Baylor Antiretroviral Assessment) clinic opened there in 2000.
THE STORY BEHIND THE TITLE
The book’s title comes from the story of the early days of the Botswana- Baylor Antiretroviral Assessment trial in Gaborone, Botswana.
We felt the stories told by the mothers and caregivers perfectly exemplifies the transformation that followed the advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy.
This quote sums things up well:
“Before the Botswana government was able to bring in medications for children, the only way that kids could get medicines was through a trial that we started, something called the BANA trial.
Next to the Princess Marina inpatient ward, we renovated what really had just been a small closet into a clinical trial room — and the door on it was white.
“The mothers on the ward would say, if the child was sick, they’d say to the other mothers, ‘Take your child to that white door. Take your child to that white door and see if you can get on those pills. Because the kids who go through the white door live, and the kids who don’t, don’t.’
“A mother anywhere in the world is going to do anything she has to for her child. And that’s exactly what these mothers did. They didn’t worry about the stigma. They didn’t worry about the repercussions. They got their child tested, and they did what they had to do to get their children on those meds.”