The Business Response to HIV/AIDS: Impact and lesson learned

based programmes. This was established to respond to
some of the capacity-building needs in community
outreach and education.
" Botswana Christian AIDS Intervention Programme
(BOCAIP) will provide a unique programme of
psychosocial and spiritual support to infected and
affected individuals and families in the home-based care
setting.
" Cabrini Sisters/Sisters of Mercy, University of Illinois and
Swaziland Ministry of Health teamed up to develop a
model curriculum for training 2,500 rural health care
workers who are the first-line of patient care. The
$860,000 grant was partially funded with $200,000 from
the Cabrini Sisters.
" AIDS Foundation was awarded a grant for a coordinated
orphan response programme in KwaZulu-Natal Province.
The programme will assess various approaches to
developing relevant life skills training for affected and
infected children.
" Harvard AIDS Foundation and Princess Marina Hospital
established a pioneering reference lab in Botswana. The
lab will enable the dramatic increase of infrastructure
and training of healthcare professionals in clinical trials,
diagnostics, and patient monitoring. The project will also
undertake the first-ever study in the resistance patterns
of HIV-1C, a strain of the HIV virus.
3. Results and lessons
The importance of partnerships to the activities of Secure
the Future is clear. By addressing the pandemic in
accordance to local governments' policies on HIV/AIDS,
Secure the Future seeks to ensure that relevant programmes
are funded after review by health authorities, peer-review
institutions, and an independent advisory board. In
addition, international collaborations that allow experience
and technology sharing are among key success factors for
the programme. The initiative is a learning process of
partnerships in response to HIV/AIDS, requiring new skills
and methods of working, as stated by Amadou Diarra,
Director, Bristol-Myers Squibb:
"Public-private partnership5 are new. They involve developing
a different operating culture and creating trust. These
partnerships require openness, patience and tireless
commitment from each partner."

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