A Haitian Doctor's Success in the Fight Against Disease

Hope is an elusive commodity in Haiti. But Dr. Jean W. Pape has managed to slow the HIV/AIDS epidemic, by nimbly adapting his medical techniques to the country's political upheaval, withering poverty and crumbling infrastructure. Pape has been so successful that Haiti is the first country in the Western Hemisphere to receive a grant from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

In awarding Haiti $25 million, international officials called the treatments and methods devised at the Gheskio Centers, which Pape directs, and other clinics a model for how poor countries with few resources can combat AIDS, and the tuberculosis and diarrhea that often attack people with the disease.

Gheskio has had impressive results fighting severe diarrhea with antibiotics, has developed methods of diagnosing STDs and has found some less expensive drug combinations to treat AIDS. It and other private groups use funds provided by foundations and foreign governments to buy the medicines, which are priced far beyond the reach of most Haitians. The Global Fund grant will provide medication for about 1,200 more people.

The UN Development Program and the Sogebank Foundation, the philanthropic branch of Haiti's leading bank, will manage the funds, which are expected to arrive this month and to be used over a two-year period. Anil Soni, adviser to the fund's executive director, said the arrangement aimed to maximize efficiency and nurture cooperation between the public and private sectors. If it works, the fund could eventually provide Haiti as much as $67 million over five years, Soni said.

Pape's group now plans to train staff from government clinics as part of his project's activities financed by the Fund. He is confident that with enough resources, the country can hold the line on the disease until a vaccine is discovered.

Back to other CDC news for December 23, 2002

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