Cultural insight helps her battle HIV / AIDS

11:41 PM PST on Sunday, May 1, 2005

By GREGOR McGAVIN / The Press Enterprise

INLAND PORTRAIT Clara Omogbai Age: 29 Residence: Loma Linda Goal: Hopes to increase awareness of HIV/AIDS prevention and other health issues, both in San Bernardino and in her native Nigeria

     Clara Omogbai saw the human toll taken by HIV and AIDS, ignorance and stigma in her native Nigeria.

     She learned how to fight all four in the United States, and she's putting that knowledge to work in San Bernardino.

     Omogbai is public health coordinator for Central City Lutheran Mission's H Street Clinic just off 13th and H streets. She counsels and cares for more than 60 HIV-positive people in the mission's supportive housing program for those who have the virus.

      She monitors patients' conditions and works with case managers and outside agencies. She trains community health care workers and makes home visits to check up on her charges.

      "I like the people I work with," said Omogbai, whose broad smile turns into a look of deep emotion when she speaks of her clients. "I tell them, 'Just look at me as your friend, someone you can talk to on the same level.' "

     Back home in Nigeria, Omogbai witnessed the health hazards posed by ignorance of the dangers of HIV and AIDS. Sub-Saharan Africa has been hit harder by the illness than any other part of the globe, with more than 25 million people estimated to be infected. In Nigeria, some 3.6 million Nigerians are infected with the virus, including 5.4 percent of adults, according to United Nations health officials.

     But unlike in Uganda, where infection rates as high as 35 percent drove government and health officials to embrace a large-scale education campaign credited with drastically reducing the virus' prevalence, Omogbai said Nigeria has yet to admit there is an epidemic.

     "The problem is a lot of people are still shying away from it," she said.

     The AIDS epidemic and the poor health conditions for infants and women in Nigeria inspired her to enter the field of health care. Omogbai left her homeland in December 2002 and studied at Tulane University's School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans, where she received a master's degree in public health.

     She started at Central City a year ago, and she takes her work seriously.

      "It's a way of helping people who think it's the end," she said.

      Mike Chavez, who directs the clinic's supportive housing program for HIV patients, said Omogbai's cultural perspective and her humanity make her an ideal fit for the job.

      "She's highly motivated and very caring," Chavez said. "And her experiences coming from a different country, she brings that knowledge to our agency."

     Omogbai's office at the clinic is cluttered. Paperwork is piled on a desk next to a coffee cup crammed with pens and glue sticks.
     Religious music from her Pentecostal church plays on her computer, and from her key chain hangs a miniature stuffed giraffe.

     "It reminds me of the Kenyan safari," she said.

      Some day, Omogbai said, she'll go home to Nigeria "and bring the light and hope to my people."

      In the meantime, there is important work to do here.

      "We can make a difference, and that's what matters," she said.

Reach Gregor McGavin at (909) 806-3069 or gmcgavin@pe.com .