Few have more fully exemplified the School of Nursing’s mission of advancing the health of individuals, communities, and systems, both locally and globally, than Sheila Dinotshe Tlou, Ph.D., RN. As co-chair of Nursing Now, a global campaign of the International Council of Nurses and the World Health Organization, she has raised the profile and status of nursing worldwide and impacted the health and well-being of the world.
UConn School of Nursing was honored to recognize Tlou at commencement on May 7. She was originally scheduled to speak to the Class of 2020 but was unable to make the trip from Botswana until this year. Tlou received the Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, in recognition of her caring, innovation, and advocacy on behalf of the citizens of the world.
“This is the 38th award I have received in my lifetime, but it will be the most memorable because it signifies a recognition by colleagues that clearly says, ‘You are one of us, we value the work that you have done and are continuing to do’,” Tlou said.
After receiving a Ph.D. in Nursing from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1990, Tlou shared her knowledge as professor and head of the University of Botswana School of Nursing, and director of the WHO Collaborating Centre in Primary Health Care. Nationally, she advocated for the health of the Republic of Botswana’s citizens as a specially elected member of Parliament and as a cabinet member as the first health professional and nurse Minister of Health. Her leadership yielded near universal uptake of medications resulting in a decline of mother-to-child transmission of HIV from 29% to 8%, and maternal mortality due to AIDS decreased from 30% to 10%. Her program became the international standard for the treatment of HIV/AIDS among women. Furthermore, Tlou’s scholarship enabled women to negotiate with their partners for safer sex and reduced the stigma of AIDS.
Tlou’s leadership and political advocacy provided a high-quality sustainable AIDS response in 21 African countries and was instrumental in the formation of advocacy bodies such as The Pan-African Positive Women’s Coalition and the High-Level Task Force on Women, Girls, Gender Equality and HIV in Africa, to name but a few.
Her continued efforts in HIV prevention, treatment, and support as co-chair of the United Nations Global HIV Prevention Coalition and of the Nursing Now Global Campaign; the United Nations Eminent Person for Women, Girls, and HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa; and the International Council of Nurses Goodwill Ambassador for Girl Child Education serve as a model of caring, innovation, and advocacy.
Tlou’s honors are too numerous to list, but notably include the International Red Cross Society’s prestigious Florence Nightingale Medal, which is awarded biennially to exceptionally qualified nurses around the world who have distinguished themselves in peace or war by exemplary services or a creative or pioneering spirit in the name of public health or nursing education. The medal is the highest international distinction a nurse can receive, embodying the values of humanity, charity, bravery, and selfless dedication displayed by Nightingale.
This article was originally published in the Fall 2022 issue of Unison.
