Because you can't distribute an HIV vaccine in a vacuum,
GAIA is building the infrastructure that will be needed to deliver our
HIV vaccine. This includes instruction on how to administer a vaccine,
provision of safe delivery devices and supporting a network of
distribution points.
Why is GAIA Vaccine Foundation involved in clinical care in Mali and West Africa?
Africa
is home to the highest number of people living with AIDS and is the
epicenter of the global epidemic. GAIA VF is involved in setting up a
field trial site for the GAIA (not for profit, globally relevant) HIV
vaccine. In the meantime, GAIA VF has established a “Prevention Now!”
campaign in Mali.
GAIA VF believes that active, ongoing collaboration with West African
physicians and support for clinical activities in the region will
improve the health of West African children and their parents, and
foster the development of the type of regional knowledge base and level
of care that is needed to pursue ethical implementation of HIV care and
future HIV vaccine trials in the region.
HIV Prevalence in Mali
The HIV prevalence rate in Mali is 1.9% among adults and at between
170,000 to 400,000 people are living with HIV (including more than
70,000 women). To place the epidemic in perspective, there are almost
as many PLWH/A in Mali, a country that is less than two times the size
of Texas, as there are in the continental USA. The last HIV survey was
performed in 2001 and there is reason to believe that the epidemic is
beginning to accelerate: HIV prevalence rates of 5% have been described
in prenatal clinics in Bamako and Segou and confirmed in GAIA VF's
clinic in Sikoro. HIV treatment is available: in April 2005, the Global
Fund awarded $23,483,234 to the Malian government's Haut Conseil pour
la Lutte Contre le SIDA (HCNLS) for the coordination of HIV prevention
and treatment efforts.
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Board member Sophie Sprecht-Walsh plays construction manager on her recent trip to Bamako.
Check out our latest pictures on Hope Center Clinic
As
of March, 2008 GAIA has completed the construction of the Hope Center
Clinic in Sikoro, a peri-urban impovershed neighborhood of Bamako,
Mali. The completion of this construction will allow GAIA VF to
continue our effort to become the first “CSCOM” (Community-based clinic
or infirmary) in Mali to offer HIV care to villagers. No CSCOM-based HIV care is currently provided in Mali.
The
Hope Center Clinic is a 2-floor addition to the existing Regional
Health Department clinic of Sikoro. It will be fully equipped with a
large infirmary, a pharmacy, a laboratory, exam rooms, and offices. The
building also has a meeting room for peer education and a cooking area
for the preparation of the GAIA supported weekly meal program. The
clinic will have wireless internet, multiple sinks and toilets.
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Previous
research has determined that door-to-door HIV education programs are an
effective means of teaching about HIV, reducing stigma, and increasing
the number of people seeking HIV testing and treatment in sub Saharan
Africa. Where the population is illiterate, physical mnemonics can
improve learning. GAIA Vaccine Foundation therefore developed the Hêré Bolo HIV Peer education program
that uses a physical mnemonic based on the five fingers of the hand:
Hope (thumb; Identity (index finger); Transmission (middle finger);
Fidelity and Family (ring finger); and Community (fifth finger
completing whole hand) to teach illiterate residents of a peri-urban
slum in Mali about HIV disease, treatment and prevention.
The Hêré Bolo door-to-door HIV peer education campaign was initiated in the neighborhood of Sikoro, near Bamako, Mali,
in July 2006. A pilot project was initiated in July/August 2006.
Community members were trained by the Malian national peer education
program (Groupe Pivot) and taught the Hêré Bolo teaching method in
Nov-Dec 2007. Answers on the posttest HIV information survey improved
following the training program. Formal training was provided to the
Peer educators in November 2007 (Groupe Pivot). The program was
formally initiated in February 2007. More than 6,443 contacts
with community members were initiated by the 11 peer educators over the
six-month period 2/2007 to 5/2007. During this period, 4,184 condoms were distributed. HIV testing requests at the Sikoro CSCOM have increased by 20%.
Testimony from a peer educator: I
will put all of my energy into the fight against HIV and peer education
so that all can benefit from the good news (about treatment) and know
that HIV has been ravaging our neighborhood, Sikoro, and we pray to the
good god so that one day we will have medicine that will cure everyone
of this disease.
The
next phase of the program will determine whether the physical mnemonic
is “viral” by measuring transmission of the teaching to homes adjacent
to the sites where the Hêré Bolo intervention took place.
Thus,
the Hêré Bolo five-finger simple physical mnemonic improves HIV
learning in a pilot intervention. This intervention may be easily
adaptable to other settings in West Africa.
Establishment of GAIA Mission 2002 and “Rendez vous des Specialistes VIH/SIDA”
GAIA Vaccine Foundation has been working in Mali
since 2002, when Dr. Annie De Groot first established collaborations
with Malian HIV researchers. She soon recognized the lack of
coordinated networking between HIV/AIDS NGOs, GOs and HIV care
providers and misinformation about HIV/AIDS treatment among
practitioners that might impair the ethical conduct of HIV vaccine
trials in Mali.
GAIA VF’s mission arose from the need to coordinate these HIV/AIDS
endeavors. Therefore, GAIA VF developed plans for an annual HIV/AIDS
conference and to set up clinical centers in the city where good HIV
care would be modeled.
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