GSK donates $1.6m to African AIDS clinics

As part of its long-standing commitment to care and community support for HIV/AIDS patients and developing world health initiatives, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has announced a $1.6 million grant over 2 years to support the work of two HIV/AIDS clinics in Malawi and Uganda.

The funding will be used to expand an effective system of care that is focused on preserving the health of families suffering from HIV/AIDS, thereby enabling them to care for their children into young adulthood.

The GSK grant was announced by Chris Viehbacher, President of GSK's US Pharmaceuticals business, during a trip to Africa with US Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, where 30m people are believed to be infected with HIV/AIDS, the disease is tearing apart the foundations of society. Infected mothers transmit the disease to their babies during delivery and subsequent breastfeeding, resulting in more than 1,600 new infant infections daily. Infected parents without access to HIV/AIDS medicines leave behind whole families of orphans, amounting to as many as 15m children in Sub-Saharan Africa who have been orphaned by the disease, according to United Nations' estimates. Those remaining struggle to support the fragments of their families in an increasingly impossible economic situation.

The GSK grant seeks to improve the standard of medical care provided to families, while also promoting community awareness and education about HIV/AIDS. HIV testing and counseling will begin during prenatal care. Infected mothers will begin antiretroviral therapy before birth to reduce the rate of transmission of the disease to their child, either during birth or through breastfeeding. Both mothers and infected fathers will continue HIV drug therapy to maintain their health over time and enable them to support their family for as long as possible. Ongoing support will be provided to families through community treatment experts - or 'Mothers' Helpers' - who will deliver HIV therapy to patients and monitor their treatment while also providing health education and nutritional support.

The success of this approach has already been demonstrated through a pilot program at St. Gabriel's Hospital in the Lilongwe district of Malawi. Now in its third year, the St. Gabriel's project has established its Mother to Child Transmission Program, and is working toward expanding the program to treat 450 new mothers and their infected spouses partners over the next three years. The GSK grant will support that effort, and enable expansion of the program to the Workers Treatment Centre in Kampala, Uganda, with a goal of treating 1,000 new patients.

The GSK grant will be administered through the Children's AIDS Fund, a Washington, DC-based organization that has over 10 years' experience working in Africa, including support for an AIDS orphanage established by Ugandan First Lady, Mrs Museveni.

'We hope this GSK grant will help support care for the whole family,' Viehbacher said. 'If an infected mother is not cared for, she risks infecting her baby with HIV. If the infected father - the main bread-winner of the family - is not cared for, the mother and child are more vulnerable. But if the family's HIV health is addressed, both parents will live longer so that the child will be cared for.'