Successful HIV/AIDS Treatment and Care in Haiti

Global Fund to Fight AIDS Provides Economic Support for HIV Patients

Sep 16, 2009

Despite extreme poverty, Haiti has made remarkable progress in combating the HIV epidemic. Infection rates stayed in the single digits, and deaths due to AIDS decreased.

Haiti is the Carribean country hardest hit by the AIDS epidemic, but its programs have become models of HIV care in poor and developing countries. GHESKIO in Port-au-Prince — sometimes called the world's oldest AIDS clinic — is the largest non-governmental health care organization in Haiti. The center offers primary care services, including HIV counseling, AIDS care, prenatal care, and management of tuberculosis and sexually transmitted infections.

Prevention of Mother- to- Child HIV Transmission

Mireille* is raising six children and tested HIV-positive in 2000. She was too afraid to disclose her HIV status to her partner. After receiving counseling at GHESKIO, she is now on antiretroviral therapy. She manages to take her pills and prevented HIV-infection in her youngest child. GHESKIO is located in Port-au-Prince and serves the extreme poor. The clinic receives international funding and provides health care free of charge. (* name has been changed, story from Haiti Case Study, 2008)

Partners in Health (PIH), a Boston-based non-profit founded by Dr. Paul Farmer, founded Zanmi Lasante (“Partners In Health” in Haitian Kreyol), in the rural village of Cange. Zanmi Lasante is one of the largest non-governmental health care providers in Haiti. In 1998 Partners in Health launched the "HIV Equity Initiative" to provide free antiretroviral therapy to a handful of AIDS patients. The program relies on community health workers, who deliver medicine to patients on a daily basis. Health workers receive training and a small income. The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) — a U.S.-backed international health initiative for HIV/AIDS prevention — is based on this model of integrating prevention, primary care and economic support.

PEPFAR Programs Provide Economic Support

PEPFAR- funded programs sponsor job-creation projects in agriculture, education, health and infrastructure rehabilitation. In one program HIV-infected men were hired to help dig a canal in Les Cayes. As the project ended, a local construction company offered them jobs. They gained work experience and managed to fight the stigma surrounding HIV infections in their communities.

The Global Fund Awarded Haiti a Grant in 2002

The success of the "HIV Equity Initiative" contributed to the formation of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. Grants from the Global Fund, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), allowed Zanmi Lasante and the GHESKIO clinic to expand their medical services. An estimated 18,000 Haitians are on antiretroviral therapy today. Those who cannot pay — the majority — receive care for free.

The copyright of the article Successful HIV/AIDS Treatment and Care in Haiti in Poverty/World Development is owned by Christine Welter. Permission to republish Successful HIV/AIDS Treatment and Care in Haiti in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.