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)
