Haiti To Host International AIDS Event

HIV/AIDS is the greatest health crisis our world faces today. In Haiti, 5.6% of the population is suffering from HIV/AIDS. Since the mid 1990s, Grace Children's Hospital has been bringing medical and psycho-social support to patients living with HIV. In 2005, critical Anti-Retroviral (ARV) treatment services were also added, thanks to partnerships with the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Center for Disease Control and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Funding from these partners allows International Child Care to diagnose, treat and monitor children and adults who are infected with HIV using World Health Organization guidelines.

Over the past 40 years, International Child Care has earned an excellent reputation for the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis (TB). Due to the fact that HIV infection is the most potent risk factor for developing tuberculosis and that TB is the most common cause of death in HIV-positive persons, offering Anti-Retroviral treatment services against HIV/AIDS was a natural extension of International Child Care's ongoing work in Haiti. Protecting against the double threat of TB and HIV and finding innovative ways to treat patients with both illnesses has become a critical objective for organizations like ICC that work in the developing world.

The Global Health Counsel just announced that a ceremony for the opening of an AIDS memorial in Port-au-Prince, Haiti will take place in May 2009 as an ongoing effort to limit the spread of HIV/AIDS. To learn more about this memorial click here.