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Representatives of the Baylor
College of Medicine (BCM), Texas Children’s Hospital, Bristol-Meyer Squibb Foundation,
and the Botswana Ministry of Health celebrated the 10-year anniversary of the
Botswana-Baylor Children’s Clinical Center of Excellence, which has provided
HIV/AIDS treatment to more than 6,000 children. When the Baylor College of
Medicine International Pediatric AIDS Initiative (BIPAI) opened the clinic, HIV
prevalence in Botswana was 39 percent and many medical experts considered the
situation “hopeless,” according to BIPAI Founder Dr. Mark Kline,
physician-in-chief at Texas Children’s Hospital and J.S. Abercrombie Professor
and BCM’s pediatrics chair.
BIPAI launched its pilot program in
Romania and then expanded to Botswana, the hardest hit nation in sub-Saharan
Africa. The BIPAI family-centered model of HIV/AIDS care has been replicated
since then across Africa. Kline stated that BIPAI has provided HIV/AIDS care
and treatment for more than 168,000 HIV-infected children and family members
worldwide.
The clinic, which was Africa’s first
comprehensive pediatric HIV/AIDS treatment center, started in two rooms of the
Princess Marina Hospital in Gaborone, Botswana. Support from the Bristol-Meyer
Squibb Foundation made the clinic opening possible. The clinic soon had 200
patients and now has established “decentralized outreach programs” that provide
HIV/AIDS treatment to approximately 6,300 children.
Bristol-Meyer Squibb Foundation also
has supported a new HIV/AIDS center targeting adolescents, the
Baylor-Bristol-Myers Squibb Phatsimong (“place to shine”) Adolescent Center in
Botswana. The adolescent center aims to engage all stakeholders—government,
HIV-infected adolescents and their families, community organizations, and
healthcare providers—in supporting HIV-infected people in having careers,
families, and productive lives. The BIPAI Teen Club, formerly based at the
Botswana-Baylor Children’s Clinical Center of Excellence, now will be located
at the adolescent center. The Teen Club, which has more than 1,000 members, has
been replicated in BIPAI sites, including Lesotho, Swaziland, Malawi, Uganda, and
Tanzania.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
