What We Do

On 30 March 2003, three licensed acupuncturists from the United States began an intensive, two-week acupuncture training program in Kampala, Uganda. The trainings were conducted at the KISWA Health Centre, a clinic that focuses on care for those who are HIV+. The trainee class of 13 local health care providers included midwives, physiotherapists, a traditional healer, and medical doctors.

This event, the first training program conducted by the Boston-based PanAfrican Acupunture Project (PAAP), was the culmination of two years of preparation and the expression of a dream to bring acupuncture to the people of the African continent who are struggling with HIV/AIDS.

In 2013, when PAAP was invited to expand into Mexico, the PanAfrican Acupuncture Project became the Global Acupuncture Project (GAP). GAP trains local healthcare workers to use simple and effective acupuncture techniques that enable them to treat the symptoms associated with HIV/AIDS, malaria, TB, and other delibilitating conditions.

At the core of the Project is the training of local community healthcare providers so that they can provide the treatments. This is a very important aspect of this Project in that it empowers the people themselves. To accomplish this, we have written a manual that in clear and simple terms explains the theory of acupuncture and the techniques associated with it. The bulk of the manual is the presentation of specific acupuncture protocols associated with the signs and symptoms manifested by HIV, malaria, TB, and other conditions and the side effects from the medications used to treat them.

The Project trains licensed acupuncturists on the use and teaching of the manual. These acupuncturists travel to specific target communities in the African continent and train the local individuals. The Project maintains contact with the communities to provide ongoing support through direct contact and via our web site.

"We arrived at the clinic each morning to find people waiting to get acupuncture. Simple treatments based on the protocols we had created almost always resulted in a reduction, often dramatic, in symptoms. And this took place among HIV+ patients who also had such illnesses as malaria, TB, scabies, syphilis, and hypertension."