The Abbott Fund joined representatives from the US government, Baylor College of Medicine, the government of Tanzania and other partners at a US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) news conference to announce a joint effort to improve care and treatment for children with HIV/AIDS in Tanzania. The Abbott Fund announced it is supporting the construction of the first paediatric HIV/AIDS clinic in the country, in the Mbeya region of Tanzania.
"Building this clinic represents an important expansion in Abbott's commitment to improving access to care for children in the developing world during the last decade," said Catherine V Babington, president, the Abbott Fund. "It fulfils a critical need in Tanzania, where we have been improving health systems not only for people with HIV, but also for those with other chronic health issues as well." The new clinic will bring the first paediatricians trained in the special needs of children with HIV to Mbeya.
It is estimated that there are currently more than 150,000 (UNAIDS 2008) children in Tanzania living with HIV/AIDS and in need of treatment and care. Mbeya has the second highest rate of HIV in the country, with a prevalence rate of more than 13 per cent among a population of more than two million. According to the National AIDS Control Project (NACP), last year only 2,280 children were registered to receive care with half receiving antiretroviral (ARV) therapy. In contrast, almost 16,000 adults in Mbeya are on ARV therapy.
"While we are making progress in enrolling adults into HIV care and treatment, our services for children have severely lagged behind due to lack of trained physicians and other necessary resources," said Eleuter Samky, medical superintendent, Mbeya Referral Hospital. "We expect the new centre of excellence to accelerate our ability to make progress against our national treatment goals for children with HIV." The NACP goal is to have children comprise 20 per cent of all people on treatment in Tanzania, 88,000 children, by 2010.
The Mbeya centre of excellence represents a unique partnership between the government of Tanzania, Baylor International Paediatric AIDS Initiative (BIPAI) and the U S government, supported by the Abbott Fund. The Abbott Fund is committing more than $2 million to the project, which will be run by BIPAI. The clinic will be staffed by physicians from BIPAI and the Paediatric AIDS Corps, while physicians and other health workers from the region will be trained in the special needs of caring for children with HIV. The U S government will provide funds for the ongoing operations of the clinic through the PEPFAR programme.
"The Mbeya centre of excellence will provide the foundation for paediatric HIV treatment for the foreseeable future, helping not only to save children's lives but increase health care worker capacity in the country," said Mark W Kline, president, Baylor International Paediatric AIDS Initiative, Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital. "We are confident that we will see the profound improvements in children's health in Mbeya that we have seen across Africa when integrating paediatric HIV clinics into national AIDS programs." Today, the BIPAI network clinics treat more than 26,000 children, representing the largest population of treated children with HIV in the developing world.
Improving hospital laboratories is the latest effort in the ongoing partnership between the Abbott Fund and the Government of Tanzania, which began in 2001. To date, the Abbott Fund has invested more than $50 million to strengthen Tanzania's health system.
For more than 20 years, Abbott has made a significant contribution to the fight against HIV/AIDS through the development of innovative tests and medicines. Expanding on its scientific contributions, Abbott and the Abbott Fund have invested more than $100 million in developing countries to improve the lives of people affected by HIV/AIDS through programmes targeting critical areas of need, including strengthening health care systems, supporting children affected by HIV/AIDS, preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and advancing HIV testing and treatment.
The Abbott Fund is a philanthropic foundation established by Abbott in 1951. The Abbott Fund's mission is to create healthier global communities by investing in creative ideas that promote science, expand access to health care and strengthen communities worldwide.
Abbott is a global, broad-based health care company devoted to the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of pharmaceuticals and medical products, including nutritionals, devices and diagnostics.