CRS Consortium Awarded First Round Grant of $24.7 Million to Help HIV/AIDS Patients in Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America

Catholic Relief Services
Monday, 23 February 2004

As a result of an unprecedented and historic five-year, $15 billion commitment by President Bush and the U.S. Congress to treat 2 million persons with HIV/AIDS, prevent 7 million new infections, and provide care and support for 10 million people living with HIV/AIDS, including orphans, a five-member consortium, led by Catholic Relief Services (CRS), today was awarded a $335 million grant by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to expand the delivery of Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) to HIV-infected persons in Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America. The approved budget for year one totals $24.7 million, with recommended future support to bring the total grant award to $335 million over five years.

The consortium includes Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the University of Maryland Institute of Human Virology (IHV), Catholic Medical Mission Board (CMMB), Interchurch Medical Assistance (IMA) and the Futures Group. Together, the consortium has extensive international experience and expertise in the delivery of HIV care, prevention and support efforts.

"What is unique about this partnership," said Ken Hackett, president of CRS, "is that it maximizes the Catholic and mainline Protestant health delivery systems, and the expertise of private institutions like the Institute of Human Virology and The Futures Group."

Faith-based organizations have been serving the needs of people affected by HIV/AIDS since the beginning of the pandemic. They have deep historical roots, and are closely linked to the cultural and social environments of the people being served. One-third to one-half of healthcare delivery in the developing world is done by faith-based organizations. Many of these organizations already have established working partnerships with CRS, CMMB and the IMA to provide care and support services to people living with HIV/AIDS. These services cover a wide range of activities, including care and treatment, counseling, income-generation projects for people living with HIV/AIDS and their dependents, care for AIDS orphans, and a variety of HIV prevention activities. The Institute of Human Virology and the Futures Group each have a long standing history of working collaboratively with both international and national faith based organizations in an effort to expand the accessibility and delivery of HIV/AIDS care to patients in need both locally and globally.

Each of the consortium members currently support quality, effective, and holistic care in the treatment of multiple complex illnesses, including HIV/AIDS, throughout Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America, as well as other countries throughout the developing world. Together, they possess the resources to effectively scale up already-successful anti-retroviral interventions in response to the global AIDS epidemic.

With the President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the decreasing cost of ART, the life-saving benefit in resource-constrained countries is now realized. PEPFAR, combined with the administration's commitment to engage faith-based organizations, will enable this consortium to assist and empower those with the capacity to convert the President's vision into a day-to-day reality.

While the main objective of the consortium is to ensure that people living with HIV/AIDS have access to ART and high quality medical care, the program will go far beyond drug procurement and treatment.

According to Dr. Robert Redfield, associate director of the Institute of Human Virology, "The consortium will expand, on a sustainable basis, the provision of durable ART to the greatest number of needy patients. The program will be based on leading edge medical science, national protocols and programs, and cost-effective deployment of program resources."

Under the HRSA-funded initiative, the consortium's five-year grant will aid 14,900 HIV/AIDS patients in the first year and will increase to 137,600 patients by year five. Nine countries, including South Africa, Zambia, Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Haiti and Guyana, are the proposed recipient countries of ART therapy. They are part of the fourteen countries listed in President Bush's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

Clients will be from both rural and urban settings and are from the poorest segments of society. Rural populations are heavily weighted towards small scale farmers which now face the added threat of food insecurity due to decreased productivity resulting from AIDS. Urban populations include the poor, homeless, and people from all walks of life, as AIDS cuts across societies indiscriminately.

For more information, or to contact Catholic Relief Services, see their website at: www.catholicrelief.org