Last week Marc Aguirre and I traveled to Abidjan to help with the CIERA grant from the CDC which helps orphans and vulnerable children with care and support and provides HIV prevention among youth there. We are consultants under the grant and are paid to work there by the US government. The CIERA program has helped 28,000 children with care and support over the last 5 years and they educated 127,000 youth about the risks and prevention of AIDS through 14 sub-grants and partners during this same period. Dr. Solange Balou and her team have done a great job there.
The Centre D’Assistance Socio-Medicale (The AIDS Clinic) in Abidjan was started in 1990 and it has expanded in Treichville near the University Hospital there. They saw 5813 patients in 2015. They have provided 2913 patients with ARV treatment and they have seen 11,800 patients since they opened in 1991. The AIDS Clinic still needs volunteer doctors and nurses to help with the large number of patients that they see and the staff still needs further training by US and other foreign doctors. The Clinic also needs general practice medications and infectious disease medications. We can do a lot more to help this incredible AIDS Clinic and the great work that it does.
The Amazing Abidjan Programs