FML.
Treatment for HIV, AIDS in Haiti hit by U.S. foreign aid halt despite waivers from Rubio
So waivers were issued. Still cut.
Jacqueline Charles
Thu, February 6, 2025 at 10:06 AM CST
10 min read
When growing gang violence and the kidnappings of healthcare workers forced Haiti’s leading organization in the treatment of HIV and AIDS-related illnesses to relocate operations from its main site in Port-au-Prince last year, infectious-disease doctors at the health service and research group faced a daunting problem.
As they tried to call patients to come get their antiretroviral treatment, the doctors at GHESKIO — the Haitian Group for the Study of Kaposi’s Sarcoma and Opportunistic Infection — found that they had either changed their numbers, didn’t have electricity to keep cell phones powered or no longer lived close by after being forced out of their homes by armed gangs.
“We were having a big issue in finding them. We could only find 40 to 50%,” said Dr. Patrice Joseph, the physician in charge of GHESKIO’s HIV, Tuberculosis and Infectious diseases program. “So we needed to expand the way in which we contacted those patients.”
The innovative solution: a radio spot in Haitian-Creole urging patients to “Come back to Care” and providing them with community health centers in Port-au-Prince where they could get their medication.
This week, following the Trump administration’s sweeping 90-day freeze on U.S. foreign assistance, doctors at GHESKIO launched another spot. This one informed its HIV/AIDS patients that the U.S.-funded President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief program, commonly known as PEPFAR, has been temporarily suspended.
“This sudden decision affects all PEPFAR medical clinics in Haiti and abroad,”