With more than 40 million people worldwide estimated to be living with HIV, and nearly two-thirds of those living in sub-Saharan Africa, Partners In Health (PIH) began a new project in late January 2007 to provide comprehensive, community-based health care to the community of Neno, Malawi.

The Clinton-Hunter Development Initiative (CHDI) targeted Malawi, one of the most densely populated countries in Africa, as an area that desperately needed a rural health project to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the region.  To replicate successful rural initiatives in primary health care, PIH partnered with Malawi-based organization Abwenzi Pa Za Umoyo (APZU), which serves over 100,000 people in Malawi.

Work for APZU began at the district hospital in Neno, and aside from renovating old (and building new) hospitals, PIH began training nurses to provide antiretroviral therapy for those who tested HIV-positive.   But PIH knows that HIV/AIDS doesn’t affect people except in the context of other conditions, and therefore works in tandem with educating communities on HIV/AIDS prevention, and addressing socio-economic conditions that exacerbate disease such as access to water.

The supervisor of APZU’s antiretroviral treatment clinic, Samson Njolomole, has personally experienced the impact such a program can have.  HIV-positive himself, Mr. Njolomole was encouraged to go to the APZU clinic in Neno, and started ART.  Now feeling healthy and strong, Mr. Njolomole understands the possibility of living well, even with HIV.

APZU now serves 2,200 people with antiretroviral therapy, but Mr. Njolomole is working to expand APZU’s program with an outreach campaign.  The organization hopes to travel from village to village in the Neno district and spread awareness of HIV, the importance of testing, and the success of ART.  Though HIV/AIDS is often stigmatized, even in the United States, Mr. Njolomole hits the nail on the head when he asserts that “the question is not how someone got the disease, but what we are doing about it.”

So what can we do about it?  Well, for one, adding replyforall’s “stop global AIDS” signature to your email.  You can add a rotating fact about HIV/AIDS to spread awareness, and link to the Partners in Health website to direct your circle of contacts to their work with APZU, and other HIV/AIDS initiatives around the globe.   And you can track your impact with the “stop global AIDS” signature to see how you’ve provided HIV testing and education, just by sending emails.

“We have to start now,” Mr. Njolomole urges. “Signing up at replyforall is a simple first step.”  So take that first step, and invite your friends to help with this project in Malawi.  Activism doesn’t always mean protests and petitions—it’s driving support for your cause in everyday life.

Fight the Good Fight,
Johanna Hudgens