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February 18, 2010
Report 123

Plans at the Kamenge Clinic in Bujumbura, Burundi

Things are going exceedingly well at the Friends Women’s Association’s Kamenge Clinic in Bujumbura. Dr. Alexia Nibona was joined by long-term AGLI volunteer, Alex Douglas, in October last year. The two get along wonderfully well and make a great team.

Alexia and Alex have both received Women Deliver 2010 fellowships which means that both will attend a three day gathering in Washington, DC. Belpw is how the Women Deliver webpage (www.womendeliver.org) describes the conference:

Women Deliver 2010, a global conference, will be held in Washington DC on June 7-9, 2010. The theme of the conference is: "Delivering solutions for girls and women," and we plan to focus on political, economic, social/cultural, and technological solutions. This global meeting will expand on Women Deliver's hallmark of inclusivity, reaching out to new partners and new communities. With all these partners in one room, we will further prove that maternal and reproductive health is a global priority.

There last conference in 2007 had 2000 participants! Congratulations Alexia and Alex!
The staff at the Clinic has developed a strategic plan for the year which by December will result in the clinic being able to supply ARV’s to HIV+ people. This is not going to be an easy task because they have to do the following:

• Build a counseling room at the back of the clinic.
• Hire two more nurses and a social worker.
• Buy equipment costing $68,000.
• Have a system in place to monitor and evaluate the ARV treatment.
• Be approved by the Ministry of Health.

The Clinic has already built the room, but it still needs windows, a door, cement flooring, a ceiling, and paint. AGLI’s partner, Change Agents for Peace, International (CAPI), has included the three staff salaries in their 2010 budget to the Norwegian Government and if the proposal is funded, this will take care of the additional staff needs.

Alexia and Alex have already received $1000 for equipment from the Lotus Foundation. They have submitted a request to ElectricAid (an Irish charity) for about $14,500. There is a Hematology Cell Counter costing $14,500 which still needs funding and a CD4 Counter costing $38,000!!! There are only 8 CD4 Counters in all of Burundi and, if funding for this is not available, with some inconvenience, they can rent the use of one of the other machines in Bujumbura.

For monitoring and evaluation, the Clinic will receive two Global Health Corps volunteers beginning in August. One will be Burundian and one will be a foreigner. One will be an IT person who will computerize the record keeping at the clinic and the other will do monitoring of the Clinic activities. So this should be well taken care of.

Inspectors from the Ministry of Health have visited a number of times conducting inspections and offering advice on what is needed for official approval. It is anticipated that when all the above is in place, the Clinic will be approved for ARV treatment and that the caseload will increase from the present 120 or so to 350 (which would be their capacity under the current proposal).

We wish them the best of luck on these endeavors.

The Clinic has begun home visitations two times per week so they can see how people are living, maintain contact with them, and monitor and encourage them to take their medicines appropriately Already, I was told, they found a five year old in one house who was dying of AIDS. This will also make them much more visible in the community since many people still do not know that the clinic is there - for reasons of confidentiality it was purposely not built on a main road.

Dr. Alexia Nibona will be on a very full speaking tour in the United States from March 29 to May 2. She will visit Iowa, Northern California, Los Angeles/Santa Monica, St. Louis, St. Petersburg, FL for the Friends Peace Teams annual meeting, Tennessee, and DC. You can contact me at dave@aglifpt.org for specific information if you live in an area near where she will speak.
AGLI is still looking for workcampers to go to the Clinic this summer to finish building the wall around the clinic including plastering and capping it. Contact dawn@aglifpt.org if you are interested.

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