US Doctors For Africa (USDFA) is launching a new initiative called Africa-USA Sister Hospitals Partnership Program (AUSHPP) to combat the growing health care crisis caused by the AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa. The AUSHPP will unite American and African medical institutions in a shared fight against HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases. The partnerships will relieve the overwhelming need for medical manpower and resources by creating a direct flow of doctors, resources and medical supplies between hospitals in the United States and their counterparts in Africa.

There are nearly 38 million people suffering from AIDS worldwide. Of those, 25 million HIV positive persons live in sub-Saharan Africa.<1> The African nations with the highest HIV infection rates are also among the poorest in the world. The situation is compounded by the scarcity of medical professionals, pharmaceuticals, clinical technology and educational training materials and instructors which limits the provision and accessibility of health care in the region.

According to UNAIDS "nine out of every ten people who need antiretroviral treatment--the majority of them in sub-Saharan Africa--are not receiving it. If this low level of coverage continues five to six million people will die of AIDS in the next two years."<2> Over the past several years UNAIDS and the global community have struggled to find effective and sustainable methods to meet the health care needs of millions of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in Africa. Simply giving money to impoverished nations is not a guarantee that the local governments will spend that money to help the people that need it the most.

Direct aid will make AUSHPP sustainable and effective. USDFA and sister hospitals will send assistance, geared to the needs of individual hospitals, in the form of medical staff, supplies, training, pharmaceuticals and equipment. US Doctors For Africa believes that the implementation of AUSHPP will bring much needed relief and long-term sustainable solutions to communities throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

Here is how the Africa-USA Sister Hospitals Partnership Program will work:

• U.S. medical institutions will notify US Doctors For Africa of their interest in joining AUSHPP.

• USDFA will identify similar types of institutions in African nations of interest to each US hospital. For example, USDFA will give Children's Hospital of Los Angeles the names and locations of a few different children's hospitals in the country of their choice.

• The US hospital will pick the medical institution they want to be paired with and notify USDFA of their selection.

• Once the sister hospitals' partnership is established, the US hospital will take immediate action. USDFA will provide the US hospital with information on the needs of their sister hospital as well as direct contact information to both hospitals. The US hospital will always consider assisting its partner on sharing resources (i.e., medical or technological equipment and supplies, furniture, pharmaceuticals, etc). In some cases, the hospital will use their relationships with pharmaceutical and medical equipment companies to help provide needed resources to their sister hospital in Africa.

• Once materials to donate are gathered, US Doctors For Africa will provide transportation and delivery of these resources directly to the sister hospital via our partner, Mercy Airlift.

• Members of the hospital staff are asked to volunteer one percent of their time to helping their sister hospital in Africa. Medical staff will have the opportunity to go to Africa to provide medical care and training at their sister hospital.

• US Doctors For Africa will arrange trips through our airline partners for volunteer medical staff to visit their sister hospital.

The direct flow of resources and medical manpower via the sister hospitals partnerships will create a continuous network of aid that is uniquely tailored to the needs of each African medical institution. Development of the consistent flow of doctors and medical supplies is vital in the fight against AIDS in Africa, especially due to the nature of the ARVs. If HIV patients do not take the ARVs on a regular basis, the drugs become ineffective. The on-going relationships between African and American medical institutions means that more PLWHA will get the continuous care they need to survive.

By partnering African hospitals and clinics with a network of American medical institutions, the overwhelming health care crisis in sub-Saharan Africa is effectively divided into manageable pieces. US Doctors For Africa will connect African and American medical communities and develop the capacity of African regional health care providers to meet the needs of the local populations. Through USDFA and the AUSHPP, sister hospitals will collaborate and pool resources to meet immediate medical needs, create sustainable health care outreach and preventative programs and secure a healthier future for the African people.

If you would like more information about this project or would like to get your medical institution involved, please click here: ted@usdfa.org.

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<1>UNAIDS "2004 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic," Pages 3 and 6, Geneva (June 2004).
<2>UNAIDS "AIDS Epidemic Update," Page 5-6 Geneva (December 2004)