Improved Healthcare for Thousands Expected
PHILADELPHIA, LONDON, and NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- GlaxoSmithKline today announced a new $1.8 million program to improve and scale up HIV/AIDS healthcare services at 60 facilities in Kenya. The program, a collaboration with AMREF (African Medical and Research Foundation), Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation and the National Empowerment Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS in Kenya (NEPHAK), will advance healthcare delivery and strengthen access to support services in the most deeply affected communities.
“Together we will bring hope and improved treatment to thousands of people affected by HIV and AIDS in Kenya,” said Dr. Jean Pierre Garnier, CEO GlaxoSmithKline, at the AMREF ‘Year of Africa’ event in New York.
This new project focuses on training healthcare professionals and integrating community support and outreach services to combat stigma and discrimination. The model involves placing a range of HIV/AIDS treatment and support services into comprehensive care clinics to help patients avoid the stigma of an HIV clinic. This three-year project, funded by GSK’s Positive Action community support program, has the potential to be rolled out across Kenya and other countries.
Fewer than 10% of Kenyan people know their HIV status.(1) Fear of stigmatization and discrimination is a significant barrier limiting the numbers of people seeking testing, diagnosis and treatment services. Despite increased funding and scale up of healthcare facilities providing HIV therapy, only 1.5 million of the 6 million people estimated to need treatment for HIV/AIDS are receiving available antiretroviral therapy. The majority of these people live in sub-Saharan Africa. Misinformation, cultural barriers and poverty are preventing millions of people from accessing HIV/AIDS prevention and healthcare services.
The program’s objectives are to: -- improve clinical practice by providing training in current clinical and laboratory practices -- increase take up of Voluntary Counselling and Testing through community outreach and awareness -- increase women’s uptake of Prevention of Mother To Child Transmission treatment and pediatric care services -- support treatment adherence by creating sustainable patient self-help groups
The program will be led from AMREF’s Nairobi headquarters and is expected to begin in November.
(1) Source: Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2003 http://www.measuredhs.com/hivdata/
GlaxoSmithKline’s Positive Action
GlaxoSmithKline, one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies, is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer. Positive Action, initiated in 1992, is GlaxoSmithKline’s international community partnership program supporting communities living with and affected by HIV and AIDS. Over the last thirteen years Positive Action has supported community-based responses to HIV and AIDS in over 50 countries. GSK operates pharmaceutical and consumer healthcare businesses in most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Kenya is home to the GSK’s East African business, employing over 200 people in Nairobi. GSK is a founding member of the Kenya HIV/AIDS Business Council and the Global Business Coalition on HIV AIDS. http://www.gsk.com.
AMREF
The African Medical and Research Foundation is a non-profit organization whose mission is to improve the health of disadvantaged people in Africa as a means for them to escape poverty and improve the quality of their lives. AMREF is the continent’s leading health development organization. AMREF, founded in 1957 as Flying Doctors of East Africa, is the oldest and largest aid organization based in Africa and led by Africans. AMREF recently received the $1 million 2005 Gates Award for Global Health from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. http://www.amref.org
The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation
The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation is a non-profit organization that creates a future of hope for children and families worldwide by eradicating pediatric AIDS, providing care and treatment to people with HIV/AIDS, and accelerating the discovery of new treatments for other serious and life-threatening pediatric illnesses. http://www.pedaids.org/
National Empowerment Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS in Kenya (NEPHAK)
Launched in 2003, the National Empowerment Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Kenya (NEPHAK) works to promote the rights and greater involvement of people living with HIV and AIDS in advocacy, prevention, care, support and program interventions. Approximately 2.2 million Kenyans are living with HIV and AIDS. NEPHAK works on behalf of the many organizations and community- based groups providing services for people living with HIV and AIDS. It is a member of the Kenya Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria Country Coordinating Mechanism and is supported by Action Aid International Kenya and the Policy Project, and works in partnership with the Kenyan National AIDS Control Council (NACC) and UNAIDS.
GlaxoSmithKline
CONTACT: GlaxoSmithKline: Gaile Renegar (US), +1-919-483-2319 or AliceHunt (UK), +44 208 047 5514; AMREF: Catherine Mahoney (Kenya), +25420699320; Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation: Ashley Wolfington(US), +1-202-296-9165; or NEPHAK: Inviolata Mmbwavi (Kenya), +25 4202736415
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