Report from Haiti: rebuilding research and training programs in the aftermath of disaster
Photo courtesy of GHESKIO
Following the January, 2010 earthquake in
Haiti, GHESKIO, its largest HIV/AIDs
organization, became an emergency field
hospital and refugee camp, in addition to
continuing its clinical services for patients
with AIDS and TB.
GHESKIO Director and Fogarty grantee
Dr. Bill Pape in his office in February 2009.
Staff at the GHESKIO clinics provide free
treatment and care to thousands of Haitians
living with HIV/AIDS.
Dr. Jean “Bill” Pape, founding director of GHESKIO, the world’s first HIV/AIDS clinic, and longtime NIH grantee in Haiti, presented Report from Haiti: rebuilding research and training programs in the aftermath of disaster, on Thursday, June 17, 2010, on the NIH Campus in Bethesda, Maryland.
GHESKIO, an acronym for Groupe Haïtien d’Étude du Sarcome de Kaposi et des Infectieuses Opportunistes, has just been named the recipient of the 2010 Gates Award for Global Health. The organization has provided continuous medical care in Haiti since 1982 - never once shutting its doors or charging fees.
About Dr. Pape and GHESKIO
Since the January earthquake, Dr. Pape and his GHESKIO colleagues have been providing care for about 7,000 homeless people camped on its campus in downtown Port-au-Prince. They have provided emergency surgery and rehabilitation care to 3,000 trauma victims, scaled-up tuberculosis screening and treatment for 2,000 patients, and continued HIV services for 22,000 patients. GHESKIO is also committed to continuing its research and research training activities, which have been supported by NIH for more than two decades.
A Haitian physician, Dr. Pape graduated from Weill Cornell Medical College in 1975 and returned to Haiti in 1979. He is an international leader in the fight against AIDS and the provision of health care for the resource-poor. In recognition of his achievements, he has received the Legion d'Honneur from the French government, the Carlos Slim 2010 global health award and has been elected a member of the Institute of Medicine.
This event was sponsored by Fogarty International Center, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the NIH Office of AIDS Research (OAR).
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