HIV/AIDS in Africa
About 22.5 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are infected with HIV/AIDS. In other words, more than two thirds of the world’s HIV/AIDS cases are concentrated in a small geographic area in southern Africa.
Most of those infected in this region are women even though worldwide the disease is more common in men. And, of the 2.3 million children under 15 living with HIV/AIDS, 90 percent are in sub-Saharan Africa. The disparities in treatment and support for vulnerable populations in Africa are significant.
Key Programs We Support:
Bristol-Myers Squibb and the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation committed $150 million to develop sustainable solutions for vulnerable populations, including women and children, infected and affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa.
Since 1999, this flagship program called SECURE THE FUTURE® has provided support for more than 240 projects focused on community education, outreach, medical care and research. It has also expanded its reach from five to 19 countries. SECURE THE FUTURE® has evolved and remained agile over the years in order to play as relevant a role as possible in the global response to HIV/AIDs. From 1999 to 2002, the program was focused on broad-based grant-making to support medical research and community outreach and education. From 2003-2007, focused investments were made in three areas: community-based care in severely resource-limited settings: pediatric AIDS; and the egagement of civil society in response to the AIDS pandemic. In 2008, SECURE THE FUTURE® entered its third phase as a Technical Assistance and Skills Transfer program. This phase will capitalize on SECURE THE FUTURE's® funding program management experience and expertise, and track record as a committed private public partnership program. The aim is to replicate SECURE THE FUTURE's® lessons, experience and successful models, and address a strategic challenge of operational multi-sectoral collaborations in HIV by harnessing community resources and capacity.
While SECURE THE FUTURE®
is part of a large-scale, crisis response in high HIV prevalence countries in southern Africa, the program is also working with high-risk populations in lower prevalence countries in West Africa. In that region, it focuses its efforts on comprehensive specialized prevention, treatment and care interventions.
For more information, please visit www.securethefuture.com.
Care and Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV/AIDS in Zambia
Zambia continues to be hard hit by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, with more than 16 percent of the population infected by HIV, including an estimated 19 percent of pregnant women.
About 30 percent of the infants born to an estimated 87,000 HIV-positive women each year are also HIV-infected. A third of them die before their first birthday and half by their second. While antiretroviral therapies have become available across the country, uptake among children still is very low.
A $433,000 Bristol-Myers Squibb grant to the Adventist Development and Relief Agency for two districts in Zambia will promote programs for the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission.
The project will also pilot programs that seek to increase diagnosis and access to treatment and support for children infected with HIV by building community awareness and health care for pediatric AIDS treatment and follow-up.
In addition, the faculty of Bristol-Myers Squibb’s SECURE THE FUTURE® Technical Assistance Program is supporting a community volunteer-based treatment program to strengthen the connection among various health care providers at the community and government level, train volunteers on prevention of mother-to-child transmission and strengthen key family practices to enhance child survival rates.
The program includes the creation of training packages for community health workers on pediatric HIV care.
The ultimate goal of the project is to build a model that could be replicated in other parts of Africa and to inform policy and national planning.
Community-Based HIV/AIDS Programs in Hard-to-Reach Communities in the Kagera Region of Tanzania
Kagera is home to a number of fishing communities with poor access to prevention and health care services. The region also has one of the highest rates of HIV infection in the country, disproportionately affecting young people and women.
A $166,000 Bristol-Myers Squibb grant to Tanzania Development and AIDS Prevention will help integrate health services to increase HIV/AIDS prevention by promoting positive behavior changes, voluntary counseling and testing, and care for people who already have HIV.
The faculty of Bristol-Myers Squibb’s SECURE THE FUTURE's® Technical Assistance Program will advise on ways to educate community members, improve the nutrition status of people living with AIDS, and to develop a comprehensive care program including voluntary counseling and testing, and referral for treatment.