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$60 Million U.S.
Federal Grant Benefits AIDS Program in Kenya

$60 Million U.S.
Federal Grant Benefits AIDS Program in Kenya

A program developed by universities in Kenya and Indiana to fight AIDS in the African country has received a boost thanks to a $60 million U.S. federal grant.

A program developed by universities in Kenya and Indiana to fight AIDS in the African country has received a boost thanks to a $60 million U.S. federal grant.

The grant, providing support over five years, gives the program developed by Indiana University School of Medicine and Moi University School of Medicine in Eldoret, Kenya, the ability to treat thousands more patients, program officials told the Indianapolis Star newspaper.

This is ''one of the greatest things ever to happen in Kenya as far as HIV is concerned,'' Dr. Sylvester Kimaiyo, the program's manager, wrote in an e-mail from Kenya. ''Saving many lives has never been this hopeful.... This gives the partnership the base and the backbone to leverage more funds to do more for all our patients.''

Kenya is now one of 15 nations targeted for additional funding from President Bush's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Funding for Kenya has increased from about $92.5 million in fiscal 2004 to $368 million in 2007, according to the federal government.

The Academic Model for Prevention and Treatment of HIV/AIDS, known as AMPATH, cares for about 52,000 HIV-infected patients at its 19 facilities. The grant, which was announced Monday in Nairobi, Kenya -- plus an additional $6 million from IU School of Medicine -- will allow the program to treat about 125,000 Kenyans.

Among other things, the money will allow program workers to go door to door in Kenya, looking for people in the community who might have the disease, said Dr. Robert Einterz, AMPATH cofounder and associate dean for international affairs at IU medical school. (AP)

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