Chipepo Kankasa, “The Obsession with Transmission”

Wearing a red academic gown and a three-row sash across his shoulder, the man addressing the audience in English exchanges a knowing glance with his colleague, who is seated across from him in the anatomy lecture hall of the historic medical building. Three years ago, Philippe Vande Perre, a researcher and physician in Montpellier, submitted this request to the University:“She [Chipepo Kankasa] has never received the international recognition that her remarkable life of dedication and struggle so richly deserves. I hope that the University of Montpellier will right this wrong by awarding her an honorary doctorate.” That has now been done—or nearly so—on this October afternoon, which marks the conclusion of the Montpellier Global Days, where more than 2,000 African and French researchers have just gathered.

Thirteen Years of Collaboration

The story of Philippe Vande Peer and Chipepo Kankasa is the kind of story we love to hear in the world of science—the story of a friendship that began on the fringes of an international research program. It was 2005. Philippe Vande Peer was director of the Department of Bacteriology and Virology at Montpellier University Hospital and had just joined the PROMISE consortium, which at the time brought together European and African universities, including the University of Lusaka in Zambia. The project’s goal? To conduct active research on child health and mother-to-child transmission in the context of the HIV epidemic in Africa.“Fifteen years ago, the situation in Zambia was very difficult, with an infection rate of 25% among adults of childbearing age,” explains the Montpellier-based researcher.

Within this consortium, he met Chipepo Kankasa. At the time, she was head of the pediatrics department at Lusaka University Hospital and a pioneer in the care of pediatric AIDS, particularly through the brand-new center of excellence she had just founded.“As a doctor, researcher, African woman, and mother, she threw herself into the fight for the recognition of children’s right to care and access to antiretroviral treatments at a time—the late 1990s and early 2000s—when skepticism about the merits of access programs in a context of poverty was widely held,” recalls Philippe Vande Perre.

The Major Choices of My Life

She recounts her journey as a doctor, researcher, African woman, and mother through a series of slides presented to her audience in Montpellier. Her childhood in a family widely recognized and respected for its peaceful struggle for Zambian independence. Her marriage at age 19, the birth of her first son at age 20, followed by two more children before her divorce at age 26.“The biggest decisions I’ve made in my life were to entrust my sons to my mother so I could pursue my medical studies and specialize in pediatrics,” she says with emotion.

She began her studies in Zambia. She specialized in pediatrics at the University of Leningrad and then pursued a specialization in infectious diseases in Japan. After returning to her home country for a year, she left again, this time for Miami, to pursue postdoctoral research on pediatric AIDS. In 1999, she returned to her home country and began research that would demonstrate “the feasibility and effectiveness of managing pediatric HIV infection and that would serve as the basis for implementing integrated care programs across the African continent, in accordance with WHO recommendations,” explains Philippe Vande Perre.

A Career Amid the Pandemic

Three extremely important studies on breastfeeding in the context of an AIDS epidemic will be published by this consortium and will result in nearly twenty scientific publications, whose impact on international recommendations regarding the prevention and management of HIV infection in children is well established.“Today, Zambia is one of the very few African countries that has nearly succeeded in eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV, with a transmission rate of less than 5 percent,” the doctor explains.

In a context where the disease is still far from being eradicated—with 10% of adults of reproductive age still infected—care for children living with HIV has benefited from the tremendous work carried out by the center of excellence founded by Chipepo Kankasa in 2005.“She is a strong and extremely determined woman. To establish this center—which is, in a sense, her life’s work and, let’s not forget, the only one of its kind in Africa—she knew how to knock on the right doors and win over major donors.”

Obsession with Transmission

This center, which specializes in the care of children with AIDS, now provides high-quality care to children infected with HIV and also serves as a training center for care providers.“She’s obsessed with passing on her expertise, so she’s mentored many young colleagues who have gone on to become pediatricians and specialists in pediatric infectious diseases. It’s truly a beautiful thing,” observes her French colleague.

As her clinical and academic career draws to a close, Chipepo Kankasa is now dedicated to raising the profile of her center in Lusaka and is working to bring together clinical and basic research within a single university hospital to pave the way for young researchers and healthcare professionals in her country. As she told the UM camera:“The sky’s the limit.”