• The History of Education as a Vaccine

    our history

Education as a Vaccine Against AIDS (EVA) was founded in October 2000 by two young, Nigerian-born women. Fadekemi Agarau (nee Akinfaderin) and Damilola Adebiyi went to the united states during childhood, where they remained through the completion of their undergraduate education at Wesleyan University.

After learning, towards the end of their college careers, about the AIDS epidemic affection their homeland, the women joined forces to combat the disease and the socio-cultural misconceptions surrounding it.

In December 1999, they took a trip together to Nigeria from the US and with the help of a healthcare consulting firm they were able to conduct formative research and the results revealed that a majority of young people lacked basic life skills necessary to prevent infection. In order to make their vision a reality Adebiyi and Akinfaderin decided to apply to the Echoing Green Foundation and were awarded one of their prestigious grants. They were able, with this generous gift and their own confidence and convictions, to turn their program ideas into an established organization.

With a number of dedicated staff, assistance of volunteers and support from the community, EVA has been continuously growing and has become one of the most prominent and respected organization in the nation’s capital.