Boston Globe Examines Partners In Health Programs In Rwanda

Main Category: HIV / AIDS
Article Date: 16 Apr 2008 - 8:00 PDT

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Boston Globe on Sunday examined Partners in Health programs in Rwanda. PIH, in partnership with the Rwandan Ministry of Health and the Clinton Foundation, has opened two hospitals and has built or renovated 19 health centers in the country. PIH also has plans for a third hospital in Rwanda.

According to the Globe, PIH provides medical expertise, while the Clinton Foundation contributes funding, management and support for the group's programs in Rwanda, Lesotho and Malawi. Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston also supports the programs by sending medical residents. According to the Globe, PIH employees 1,500 people in Rwanda, including 825 local health workers.

PIH founder Paul Farmer, a professor at Harvard University, said Rwanda is the perfect place for the group to operate. Farmer added that the Rwandan government is committed to improving its health infrastructure and has made progress on HIV/AIDS, with a prevalence of less than 3%. The country is working to establish a national health program with 40,000 to 50,000 health workers, Farmer said.

According to Farmer, it will likely be about 10 years before PIH meets its goal of expanding medical services to all 27 districts and nine million residents in rural Rwanda.

Farmer on Saturday is scheduled to deliver the keynote address at a Massachusetts Institute of Technology conference organized by the Global Poverty Initiative. On April 22, Farmer is scheduled to speak with Agnes Binagwaho, head of Rwanda's National AIDS Control Commission, at the Harvard School of Public Health. In addition, Farmer is scheduled to receive the 2008 Spirituality and Justice Award on April 27 at All Saints Parish in Brookline, Mass., for his work with PIH, the Globe reports (English, Boston Globe, 4/13).

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