Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Ruth Stark, RN, FNP, Ph D, South Africa HIV/AIDS Program Office, Director, Catholic Relief Services HIV/AIDS Program Office, 209 West Fayette St., Baltimore, MD 21201-3443, 27 11 884 1535, rstark@crsrsa.co.za

In many countries, faith-based organizations have long provided the majority of HIV care and orphan support in resource-poor communities. The Catholic Church in South Africa, for example, supports hundreds of clinics, home-based care programs and hospices and has about 7,500 patients on antiretrovirals. With PEPFAR funding, 20 of these church service programs are able to provide life-saving antiretroviral drug treatment (ART) to many, but not all, people who qualify. The numbers seeking treatment exceed the resources. The waiting lists are growing. There could be a benefit to rationing ART, but turning away people in need on the basis of criteria not understood or accepted by the communities would be difficult for church programs. Therefore, patients who qualify are accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis. There is always a risk to relying on external donor funds, particularly where costly lifetime treatment is required, so collaboration and coordination with the national government is essential. The presentation will provide detail on the way that partnership with government can support sustainability and minimize risk. Meanwhile, church ART programs continue to fill the gap in ART services, relying on the international community to keep the funds flowing. In this sense, they are truly “faith-based.”

Learning Objectives:

• See learning objectives for the entire session.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation