Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation and ViiV Healthcare Donate Neonatal Equipment to Malawi
Media Contacts:
Faith Chirwa , 0991 709 033, fchirwa@pedaids.org
Eric Kilongi, 254-717-722-492, ekilongi@pedaids.org
Davies Gichuhi, GSK +27117456448 (South Africa)
Lilongwe, Malawi – The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF), with support from ViiV Healthcare, today donated essential newborn health equipment to Likuni Mission Hospital in Malawi as part of an initiative to improve early HIV infant diagnosis and treatment (EIDT).
“We are grateful to EGPAF and ViiV Healthcare for these supplies, which were previously unavailable,” said Gloria Chikwenga, a senior community health nurse at Likuni Mission Hospital. The hospital is supported by the Christian Health Association of Malawi with U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) funding provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It serves nearly 170,000 people and handles between 150 and 200 births per month.
The donated supplies include an infant incubator, suction machine, radiant warmer with an Apgar score timer which is used to assess the health of newborn children immediately after birth.
“During a site visit to Likuni by Andrew Witty, CEO GlaxoSmithKline the hospital administration requested for neonatal equipment. We hope that this donation will assist the hospital in reducing preventable newborn deaths,” said Davies Gichuhi, General Manager Southern Africa.
With support from ViiV Healthcare, EGPAF has been working across five sites in Malawi during the last two years to streamline EIDT services with a goal of expediting access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) for infants and young children.
“Thanks to our partnership with ViiV Healthcare, we have been able to substantially increase the number of infants beginning ART, and we hope that the delivery of this equipment will continue to support positive infant health outcomes,” said Nicole Buono, country director for EGPAF in Malawi.
The EIDT project is now being implemented in seven priority sites identified by the Malawi Ministry of Health. Since the baseline assessment, there has been a seven-fold increase (from 10 percent to 72 percent) in HIV- positive infants initiated on ART.
To learn more about EGPAF’s programs in Malawi, visit: https://pedaids.org/What-We-re-Doing/Where-We-Are-Working/Malawi
###
About the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF)
EGPAF is a global leader in the fight against pediatric HIV/AIDS, and has reached more than 17 million women with services to prevent transmission of HIV to their babies. It currently works at more than 6,800 sites and in 15 countries to implement prevention, care, and treatment services; to further advance innovative research; and to execute global advocacy activities that bring dramatic change to the lives of millions of women, children, and families worldwide.
Since 2001, EGPAF has supported the Malawi Ministry of Health to provide more than 678,000 women with services to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, thus averting more than 7,000 new HIV infections among children. EGPAF has been collaborating with local partners since 2001 to initiate one of Malawi’s first prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) programs. Today, EGPAF supports more than 190 sites in the Central West, Central East and Northern Zones through technical assistance and capacity-building in HIV prevention care and treatment, health systems strengthening.
Learn more about EGPAF at pedaids.org or follow us on twitter at @EGPAF
ViiV Healthcare is an independent company combining the HIV expertise of GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and Shionogi. Learn more at http://www.viivhealthcare.com/
GlaxoSmithKline – one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies – is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer. For further information please visit www.gsk.com/
