A quick note on some HIV/AIDS-related news trickling out of Haiti in the aftermath of this week's devastating earthquake: A key HIV/AIDS clinic in Haiti, the GHESKIO facility in Port-au-Prince, has been severely damaged but most of its staff is accounted for and OK, according to a message from Jean W. Pape, M.D., the director of the facility.

GHESKIO, short for the Haitian Group for the Study of Kaposi's Sarcoma and Opportunistic Infections, was founded in 1982 and was among the first to study the rise of HIV/AIDS in the developing world. According to GHESKIO's official Web site, GHESKIO has since evolved into Haiti's official HIV/AIDS research and training center, and it maintains a clinic in Haiti's capital city.

This blog post from The Scientist staff writer Bob Grant has a bit more info on the condition of the GHESKIO clinic, Dr. Pape and his staff. Our friends at POZ have also recently posted some information on the GHESKIO clinic, as well as the general state of HIV/AIDS and medical aid efforts in Haiti.

Weill Cornell Medical College, where Dr. Pape is a professor of medicine, has posted information on how you can help GHESKIO get back on its feet by making an online donation or mailing in checks that will be passed along directly to the organization. (For those of you who don't trust online donations and don't send checks via snail mail anymore, keep in mind you can set up your online bill payment system to send a check pretty much anywhere.) Meanwhile, the New York-based organization Aid for AIDS International is accepting donations of unexpired HIV-related medications that it plans to send to HIV-positive people in Haiti who need them.

I won't waste time or space by blathering on about the mind-numbing tragedy that's still just unfolding in Haiti; plenty of people have done that already, and now is the time for action, not hand-wringing. Please help however you can, whether by sending funds to GHESKIO or finding another way to donate.

Haiti Earthquake

BLOG:
The Viral Truth: Making Sense of HIV/AIDS News

Recent Posts:

View All Posts

A Brief Disclaimer:

The opinions expressed by TheBody.com's bloggers are entirely their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of TheBody.com itself.

TheBody.com App for iPhones My Health Tracker Medication and Health Reminders Assess Your Risk for HIV Follow Us: Facebook, Twitter, RSS U.S. ASO Finder

The Body: About The Body | Contact The Body | Content Policy | Content Providers | Advertise With Us | Site Map

Remedy Health Media: About Remedy Health Media | Contact Remedy Health Media | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy

The Body is a service of Remedy Health Media, LLC, 250 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10107. The Body and its logos are trademarks of Remedy Health Media, LLC, and its subsidiaries, which owns the copyright of The Body's homepage, topic pages, page designs and HTML code. General Disclaimer: The Body is designed for educational purposes only and is not engaged in rendering medical advice or professional services. The information provided through The Body should not be used for diagnosing or treating a health problem or a disease. It is not a substitute for professional care. If you have or suspect you may have a health problem, consult your health care provider.