Overview
Overview
Social Initiatives
Social Initiatives
Mozambique
Help for people infected with HIV in Africa: Partnership with the Sant’Egidio DREAM project
Bayer is helping to ensure that people with HIV in Africa can receive specific therapy for their condition and that further transmission of the infection is prevented. The company is supplying diagnostic systems and services for the DREAM project (Drug Enhancement Resource Against AIDS and Malnutrition) which is being run by the Community of Sant’Egidio in Rome.
Sant’Egidio is a charitable, non-governmental organization which is working with local authorities and volunteers in Mozambique to set up care and therapy programs throughout the country. Bayer is supplying the project with analytical systems capable of quantifying the burden of HIV infection (VERSANT® HIV-1 RNA 3.0 assay, bDNA) and monitoring therapy in HIV patients (TRUGENE® HIV-1 genotyping assay). The company will also be offering scientific and technical collaboration, plus initial and ongoing training for the healthcare professionals working on the project. DREAM is based on the HAART (Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy) concept recommended by leading HIV experts, the aim of which is to suppress viral replication and stop the HIV infection from progressing. The intention is to use Mozambique as a base for expanding this joint aid and qualification program to other countries in Africa.
“The involvement of Bayer HealthCare in the DREAM project is a significant factor in the battle to overcome the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa. It underlines the company’s high level of social responsibility,” commented Dr. Susanne Ceffa, who manages the Community of Sant’Egidio’s biology lab. “We anticipate that, by 2006, some 60,000 people will have benefited from these tests to determine viral load and resistance.”
The World Health Report 2004 issued by the World Health Organization states that one in twelve adults in Africa is infected with HIV/AIDS. In 2003, two-thirds of all the people infected with HIV/AIDS were living in Africa. Nine out of ten HIV-positive individuals in sub-Saharan Africa are not aware that they are infected. HIV/AIDS has rapidly reduced life expectancy in this region below its already poor level: in the late 1980s it was 49 years, but by 2005 it will have dropped to just under 46 years.
The Community of Sant’Egidio was founded in the Roman church of the same name in 1968. It is a community of currently more than 40,000 lay people recognized by the Holy See. This not-for-profit organization is dedicated to solidarity and charity worldwide.
Sant’Egidio is a charitable, non-governmental organization which is working with local authorities and volunteers in Mozambique to set up care and therapy programs throughout the country. Bayer is supplying the project with analytical systems capable of quantifying the burden of HIV infection (VERSANT® HIV-1 RNA 3.0 assay, bDNA) and monitoring therapy in HIV patients (TRUGENE® HIV-1 genotyping assay). The company will also be offering scientific and technical collaboration, plus initial and ongoing training for the healthcare professionals working on the project. DREAM is based on the HAART (Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy) concept recommended by leading HIV experts, the aim of which is to suppress viral replication and stop the HIV infection from progressing. The intention is to use Mozambique as a base for expanding this joint aid and qualification program to other countries in Africa.
“The involvement of Bayer HealthCare in the DREAM project is a significant factor in the battle to overcome the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa. It underlines the company’s high level of social responsibility,” commented Dr. Susanne Ceffa, who manages the Community of Sant’Egidio’s biology lab. “We anticipate that, by 2006, some 60,000 people will have benefited from these tests to determine viral load and resistance.”
The World Health Report 2004 issued by the World Health Organization states that one in twelve adults in Africa is infected with HIV/AIDS. In 2003, two-thirds of all the people infected with HIV/AIDS were living in Africa. Nine out of ten HIV-positive individuals in sub-Saharan Africa are not aware that they are infected. HIV/AIDS has rapidly reduced life expectancy in this region below its already poor level: in the late 1980s it was 49 years, but by 2005 it will have dropped to just under 46 years.
The Community of Sant’Egidio was founded in the Roman church of the same name in 1968. It is a community of currently more than 40,000 lay people recognized by the Holy See. This not-for-profit organization is dedicated to solidarity and charity worldwide.
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