What We Do

Partner Support

In fall 2005, Global Strategies began a partnership with HEAL Africa , a faith-based organization located in Goma in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Goma is situated at the epicenter of the 9 year war taking place in eastern Congo, and in turn has become home to thousands of refugees. With support from Global Strategies, HEAL Africa began the first Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) program in Goma and was asked by the National AIDS Program in DR Congo to become the oversight for PMTCT programs in the region. Global Strategies and HEAL Africa expanded that effort with the support of Christ Presbyterian Church in Edina, MN and First Presbyterian Church in Berkeley, CA working to begin the first HIV related programs in the areas around Goma, areas that have been the most severely impacted by the war.

Additional partnerships expanded our efforts in the Congo. The Clinton Foundation (read more...) supplied antiretroviral drugs to 400 of the 600 children under the care of HEAL Africa. This program was made possible by the delivery of a CD4 count machine from Global Strategies, a crucial piece of equipment that helps to monitor the progress of patients receiving antiretroviral treatment. In addition, Global Strategies began a nutrition program with funds from First Presbyterian Church Berkeley, CA, to supply food to the children on treatment and other members of their families. Nutrition is a crucial part of helping a person tolerate the treatment for HIV, and in an area like Goma, with severe food shortages, supplying food is as critical to recovery as bringing in the medicines themselves

 

Supporting the Needs of Our Partners

Health care workers are a critical resource for providing compassionate care for HIV infected individuals. They dedicate their lives to assisting the poor and needy – they too need to be protected from HIV infection. If HIV infected, they need treatment to stay healthy, support their families and care for patients. Many of our partners lack resources to respond to the needs of health care workers in resource poor areas.

We believe that supporting our health care workers is integral to our compassionate response to requests from our partners. Two programs have been developed: Adopt a Health Care Worker, and Post Exposure Prophylaxis.

Adopt a Health Care Worker

While there are many reasons for a global shortage of health care workers, one of the leading reasons is that many health care workers are themselves infected with HIV. Through the Adopt a Health Care Worker program, Global Strategies, Bayside Church of Granite Bay, CA, Faith Alive Clinic, and Cameroon Baptist Convention have partnered to provide antiretroviral therapy for health care workers. But this worthy start is only the first step of a long journey. At present, Africa is thought to have only one-third of the one million health care workers the continent needs to combat the blight of HIV. We need many more churches and individuals to “adopt” health care workers. The process is simple and the cost is remarkably low. All it takes is a commitment to provide a staff member with antiretroviral drugs to treat HIV, cotimoxazole (to prevent opportunistic infections), and anti-tuberculosis medication (if needed) for two years. (read more…) Using generic fixed-dose drug combinations, the cost for each health care worker is less than $250 a year. (read more…) After two years, the hope is that the health care workers with improved health will have developed income to help offset their medication costs, freeing up space in the program for other HIV infected health care workers. This is a good start, but we need more “Good Samaritans.”

Postexposure Prophylaxis

Violence Against Women: HEAL Africa, one of our partners, reports between 800 and 1,000 rape victims each year in need of urgent treatment. We recently partnered with Panzi Hospital, located in Bukavu, South Kivu Province in eastern DRC. They report an equal number of victims and that the demand for lifesaving PEP kits exceeds the supply.  Panzi Hospital was established in 1999 as a response to the atrocities being committed against women.  Director of Panzi Hospital and surgeon, Dr. Denis Mukwege, is the winner of the 2008 UN Human Rights Prize

We were introduced to Harold Dick, who generously donated the funds needed for medicines to fill 1,000 PEP kits, as well as shipping costs, taxes, duty and fees. The kits each contained 6 drugs to treat various, sexually transmitted infections and prevent HIV infection and pregnancy. The drugs were ordered and processed in record time by Cipla in India. During the same month, we received a substantial donation from The Africa Education Initiative to support the Panzi Hospital program and another donation from the Robert James Frascino Foundation fundraising concert to support health care worker training and PEP kit distribution.

Protecting Health Care Workers: It is acknowledged that many healthcare workers are themselves at risk of infection as they care for HIV infected individuals. Losing even one healthcare worker to HIV infection if they were accidentally infected by a needle from an HIV-infected patient would be tragic. HIV infection following accidental inoculation can be prevented with the same drugs that prevent infection of infants born to an HIV infected mothers. HIV infection can also be prevented in a child or young woman following rape or sexual abuse. A combination of two drugs, zidovudine and lamivudine, given twice a day for four weeks is provided for prevention.

We distributed over 120 postexposure prophylaxis kits in one year alone to hospitals and clinics in the area surrounding Goma, Congo. Each kit has detailed instructions on when to use the drugs and how to determine their effectiveness. Our goal is to ensure that every hospital, clinic and orphan program has sufficient numbers of postexposure prophylaxis kits to protect the health care workers and children and women from HIV infection.