News Release

Swaziland to educate and assist people living with HIV/AIDS with grant to train Swaziland's 2,500 community health and social welfare motivators

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Porter Novelli

Three-Year $860,000 grant to Train Swaziland's 2500 Community Health and Social Welfare Development Motivators

SWAZILAND (February 15, 2000) -- A unique collaborative partnership has been formed to help alter the course of HIV/AIDS in Swaziland it was announced here today.

Led by Bristol-Myers Squibb's "Secure The Future" initiative, the coalition includes the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Swaziland, Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Nursing.

Working together, the coalition of US and Swaziland public and private interests will implement a program to provide urgently needed HIV/AIDS risk reductions and home based care education to the citizens of the Kingdom of Swaziland.

The effort entails a three-year, comprehensive HIV/AIDS education-training program for Swaziland's 2500 Community Health and Social Welfare Development Motivators (Bagcugcuteli). Initial funding is being provided by Secure The Future and Cabrini Mission Foundation, Saint Phillips Mission, Swaziland, whose Sisters will administer the program in collaboration with the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Swaziland, Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Nursing.

Swaziland's Community Health and Social Welfare Development Motivators have a major role in providing services and education to Swaziland's population. The training will focus on home-based care, which the United Nations Development Programme and Swaziland's Ministry of Health and Social Welfare have identified as an urgent need for the kingdom's 950,000 people. Current statistics show that approximately 22% of the population is HIV positive.

Swaziland Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Dr. P. K. Dlamini said, "With the scale of the challenge we have, Swaziland appreciates the pioneering example of a broad public-private sector partnership. This initiative also reflects muiltisector government collaboration and I would like to acknowledge the support given by my colleagues in the Cabinet, and specifically the Deputy Prime Ministers, for their guidance and leadership. Projects such as this encourage the pooling of resources and skills in partnerships from all sectors of civil society."

Specifically, the program will develop a curriculum to provide the Community Health and Social Welfare Development Motivators with the knowledge and skills necessary to perform and teach basic nursing tasks to families of people living with HIV/AIDS. It also will support Swaziland's efforts to reduce stigma associated with the disease and behavioral change in families and communities caring for people living with HIV/AIDS.

"The Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart have been serving the needs of the people of Swaziland for 28 years," said Sister Lucille Souza, Chairperson, Cabrini Mission Foundation. "This is a landmark moment for us because it launches our first public/ private/non profit partnership. By forming alliances with the public sector and with private corporate philanthropic organizations like Secure the Future, we can expand our ministry to enacting change and empowering self-sustaining progress. We congratulate the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation for helping to make this happen and the Swaziland Ministry of Health."

"One of the major goals of Secure The Future is to build the capacity of people in southern Africa to help themselves. The Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation is pleased to join forces with Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Swaziland, the ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the University of Illinois College of Nursing and the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart in support of this practical and well designed program," said Kenneth E Weg., Vice Chairman, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company.

The Cabrini Mission Foundation has committed $200,000 to support the initiative in partnership with Bristol-Myers Squibb's Secure The Future, which has committed $660,000. The Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, working with Secure The Future, have also launched a major fundraising effort to raise additional money to be used in Swaziland to support the program.

A world-wide icampaign™, the first of its kind, will be conducted on the Internet, through www.changingourworld.com. Donors will have the opportunity to make gifts directly to Secure The Future through the Cabrini Mission Foundation in support of the Swaziland initiative.

Secure The Future is a $100 million commitment from Bristol-Myers Squibb Company to assist women and children with HIV/AIDS in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland. The program provides grants for medical research and for community outreach and education focusing psychosocial aspects of HIV/AIDS. Secure The Future also encourages and funds capacity-building educational programs in medicine, health care and public health. Since Secure The Future was introduced in May 1999, more than $24 million in grants have been announced. This is the first Secure The Future grant in Swaziland.

Cabrini Mission Foundation exists to respond to societal needs -- supporting worldwide works of healing, teaching, caring and giving. This mission was begun by St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, and continues through works sponsored by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC), the international religious order she founded. MSC institutions and ministries -- in health care, education, social services and human promotion, provide a continuum of services and express a lifelong commitment to the dignity, nurturing and acceptance of the human person. The foundation places particular emphasis on serving the unique needs of women, children, immigrants and refugees.

###

Visit Secure The Future Wweb site at www.securethefuture.com.

AFRICA: Phangisile Mtshali 011-27-11-4566440
Elizabeth Mndzebele 011-268-4042431


Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.