The ONE Blog, from the anti-poverty group co-founded by Bono, features a posting today by Leia Isanhart Balima, who works for Catholic Relief Services as Chief of Party for AIDSRelief Rwanda. She tells the story that is being repeated throughout Africa, of our local partners in AIDSRelief taking over the program. This is the goal of all the work that groups like CRS do: we want to work ourselves out of a job.
Last week, I visited the Bungwe Health Center, a small clinic nestled in the hills about two hours outside Rwanda’s capital city, Kigali. The center is part of AIDSRelief, a program that has been providing HIV care and treatment in Rwanda since 2005 with funding from the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). My employer, Catholic Relief Services, is the lead agency for AIDRelief in 9 countries.
During my visit I met a nurse named Cecile and her 12-year-old patient, Jean Claude. His mother is an AIDSRelief patient and Jean Claude had come to the health center to find out his own status. He’s been sick for quite some time.
Cecile counseled and tested Jean Claude, then talked with him about his results. To my surprise, he smiled. When asked what he will do now that he knows his HIV status, he said he will go to school to become a doctor. Jean Claude knows that with antiretroviral therapy and good medical treatment, he can live a long, productive life.
There are thousands of such stories across PEPFAR-supported countries. Through programs like AIDSRelief, PEPFAR is bringing training and materials to health professionals like Cecile, giving patients hope instead of the death sentence they would have faced just a few years ago.
But a unique, and also remarkable, story is how Rwanda’s Ministry of Health has taken ownership of the program. Six years ago, Catholic Relief Services and partners began AIDSRelief with the intention of someday transitioning it to a local entity. The Ministry of Health stepped up and showed it was ready, willing, and capable of taking over the project. After two years of intensive preparation, the transition is complete. The Ministry now directly receives PEPFAR aid, sustaining the work AIDSRelief has begun.
U.S. foreign aid programs like PEPFAR are making a difference in the lives of people all over the world. These programs transition to local ownership in a meaningful, sustainable way and encourage partner countries to share responsibility for building strong health systems.
As our partners step forward, they still need our support. In the coming days and months, Congress faces more painful budget discussions and some people believe that poverty-focused international assistance isn’t worth saving. But now is not the time to dial back successful programs that are building strong national systems to lift millions of people out of poverty and illness.
With sustained U.S. foreign aid, nurses like Cecile will continue to receive training and resources via the Ministry of Health. And Jean Claude will get the treatment he needs to realize his dreams of giving hope to others the way Cecile gave hope to him. And that’s something to celebrate and advocate for.
Read the ONE blog about AIDSRelief.
