The DREAM project opens
in Kenya:
the new centre in St. Ursula�s Hospital in Materi � Tharaka
District
On 1st December last the DREAM project to combat AIDS opened its
activities in Kenya, making this the fifth African country where it
has begun its work. The Community of Sant�Egidio�s programme of
prevention and treatment has to its credit since January 2002 the
treatment of approximately 20,000 persons and the births of almost
2,000 healthy babies.
The incidence of AIDS
among the Kenyan population is estimated at around 7% (source UNAIDS).
In contrast to other African countries, there is no lack of resources
in the major Kenyan cities. In rural areas, however, there is a
complete absence of facilities capable of opposing the forward march
of the epidemic. And it is these areas that the new DREAM project
centre is targeting, basing itself as it does in St. Ursula�s
Hospital in Materi, district of Tharaka.
The hospital stands in a
rural area, at about 300 km from Nairobi. It belongs to the Catholic
diocese of Meru, and it is run in collaboration with the hospitals of
Sant'Orsola of Bologna and Ferrara, who have together formed an NGO.
Calling itself Ibo, the organisation has for years been sending
medicines and Italian personnel to provide regular support. The
hospital is a medium-sized, modern facility: the medical and surgery
departments can accommodate 40 in-patients in the adult ward and 30 in
the children�s ward.
The idea of opening a
DREAM centre within the hospital originated in Italy. The number of
AIDS sufferers was rising and the medical staff of the St Orsola
Hospitals of Bologna and Ferrara who were working in Kenya wondered
how they could confront the problem. A meeting with the management of
the Community of Sant�Egidio project resulted in the idea of a joint
venture, which first got underway a year and a half ago.
These eighteen months have
been work-intensive, but necessary: for gathering the funding; making
contacts with governmental authorities; obtaining all necessary
authorisations; building the laboratory and the out-patient clinic;
carrying through training courses for the staff.
The
speciality of this new centre is its role as a hub of reference: the
point from which dispensing and the monitoring of therapy emanate to a
series of rural out-posts located out on the land: 7 �health points�
in remoter villages radiate, in fact, out from it. Sufferers are
usually unable to make their own way to the hospital; this is not only
because of the hardships of the journey, but also due to economic
constraints. The centre, therefore, acts as a day hospital only for
those who are able to get there directly. For others a service of
specially equipped vehicles has been prepared; these call at the
health points at pre-set dates to carry out health visits, take of
samples for patient tests and monitor ongoing therapy. Samples taken
in the villages are transported to the lab for cd4 level analysis (the
level of immune defence present in a HIV sufferer) which is an
essential datum for establishing the appropriate treatment for each
sufferer. In this way, a thoroughgoing �house-to-house� therapy is
provided, bringing treatment if not into the home, then into the more
outlying and inaccessible villages.
On
1st December � exactly on the day dedicated to the international
fight against AIDS � the centre was inaugurated with a ceremony
which saw the participation of numerous local authorities, sufferers,
and local families. A delegation from Ferrara was also present.
Following the formal addresses, interspersed with song and local
dancing, the plaque was unveiled and the ribbon cut: the new centre is
officially open. It only remains to wish success to all those whose
endeavours in these past months have seen DREAM reach yet another new
destination.
Press Review:
Latte
e buona tecnologia per Tharaka
La Nuova Ferrara - 09/12/2005
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