Chipepo Kankasa, “The Obsession with Transmission”

Wearing a red academic gown and a three-striped sash draped over 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 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 Perre and Chipepo Kankasa is the kind of story we love to hear in the world of science—the story of a friendship forged on the fringes of an international research program. It is 2005. Philippe Vande Peer is director of the Department of Bacteriology and Virology at Montpellier University Hospital and has 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 validity of access programs in a context of poverty was widely held,” recalls Philippe Vande Perre.

The major decisions 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 nonviolent struggle for Zambian independence. Her marriage at age 19, the birth of her first son at 20, followed by two more children before her divorce at 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 Leningrad University 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 complete a postdoctoral fellowship on pediatric AIDS. In 1999, she returned to her 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 during the pandemic

Three extremely important studies on breastfeeding in the context of the AIDS epidemic will emerge from this consortium and lead to 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 below 5%,” the doctor explains.

In a context where the disease is still far from being eradicated—with 10% of adults of reproductive age still infected—the care of 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 way, 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 convince major donors.”

An obsession with transmission

This center, which specializes in the care of children with AIDS, now provides high-quality care to children living with HIV and also serves as a training center for care providers.“She’s obsessed with passing on her skills, 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.

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