MTCT-Plus Implementation and Quality Assistance (IQA) Project
Under a subcontract with Columbia University, JSI is providing site-monitoring services for the MTCT-Plus Initiative, an HIV/AIDS intervention program, through the Implementation and Quality Assistance (IQA) project. HIV/AIDS is decimating populations and threatening livelihoods across resource-poor countries. Mothers and children, the most vulnerable members of society, are suffering the heaviest toll from HIV/AIDS, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. UNAIDS estimates that there were 42 million people worldwide living with HIV/AIDS at the end 2003, the majority of them (70%) in Sub-Saharan Africa. Global efforts to prevent mother-to-child transmission (pMTCT) of HIV have expanded rapidly in recent years, but these efforts have not incorporated care and treatment for mothers or other family members. Recognizing this, the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health is implementing the MTCT-Plus Initiative, with funding from private foundations and support from a number of collaborators. The MTCT-Plus Initiative, an innovative family-centered program, builds on pMTCT efforts using a well-established package of low-cost and effective practices in providing comprehensive HIV primary care (and anti-retroviral therapy when indicated) for HIV-infected mothers, infants, and other household members in 13 programs in nine resource-poor countries. As it currently stands, the MTCT-Plus Initiative will support lifetime HIV care for 750 individuals at each of the 13 programs, enrolling 250 individuals per year over the next three years.
Making Medical Injections Safer (MMIS)
Poor injection and sharp waste disposal practices for preventive and curative services pose an avoidable risk of transmission of deadly diseases such as HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B and hepatitis C to consumers, health care providers, and communities. In 2004, as part of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) focusing on countries with high HIV prevalence, JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc., and its subcontractors, Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), Academy for Educational Development (AED), and the Manoff Group, were awarded funds through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to implement “Rapid Interventions to Decrease Unsafe Injections” in 11 countries. The project is commonly known as Making Medical Injections Safer (MMIS). By the end of the five-year project (2009) and with national counterparts, MMIS will establish an environment where patients, health care workers, and the community are better protected from the medical transmission of HIV and other bloodborne pathogens.
Project HEART
The “Help Expand Antiretroviral Therapy for Children and Families” Project (HEART) is a public-private partnership aimed at providing care and treatment services to HIV-infected children and adults in Côte d'Ivoire, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zambia. The project was created to save lives, preserve families, and restore hope to communities devastated by HIV/AIDS by rapidly expanding the number of people receiving antiretroviral (ARV) therapy. JSI is subcontracted by the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) to provide technical assistance (needs assessments, monitoring and evaluation, capacity building) through site monitoring at designated HIV/AIDS clinics in the four host countries.
