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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts: 
Schecter, Kate 
Program Officer, Russia and the Caucasus Washington
kschecter@aiha.com

 
Russian community leaders to learn about comprehensive HIV prevention and treatment programs and integrated social services through US-funded program 

Washington, DC, October 20, 2006—A delegation of 25 Russian health and civic leaders arrived in the United States yesterday to participate in the 2006 Open World/Community Leadership Development Program (OW/CLDP). This year’s program—which marks the fourth year the American International Health Alliance (AIHA) has managed exchanges funded through the Open World Leadership Center at the US Library of Congress—focuses on two main themes: “Mobilizing to Address HIV/AIDS” and “Mobilizing to Provide Social Services.”  

Working closely with the Open World Leadership Center and local partners, AIHA helped identify the 25 participants—10 from Orenburg Oblast and 15 from St. Petersburg—for this year’s program. The Russian delegates are currently in Washington, DC, where they will begin their introduction to American-style democracy and free enterprise, particularly as it relates to the US healthcare system, and learn about the Healthy Communities model that is the hallmark of many AIHA partnerships and programs. Participants will then travel to the Iowa cities of Ames, Des Moines, Marshalltown, and Nevada, where they will stay with a host family and get a first-hand look at effective community-based HIV/AIDS prevention, care, treatment, and social support programs in action. 

According to the World Health Organization, World Bank, and UNAIDS, as many as 1.5 million Russians are currently living with HIV/AIDS—most of them under the age of 35—and the nation is facing one of the world’s fastest growing rates of new HIV infections. At a time when responsibility for healthcare continues to devolve from the Russian Federal level to the oblast and community levels, a new model of HIV-related healthcare planning that helps communities channel their own resources and strengths to create integrated, multidisciplinary programs is more critical than ever. This program will help the Russian delegates more effectively leverage community resources to provide socially-oriented health services and to better address their country’s HIV/AIDS epidemic.  

Delegates from both healthcare and social services programs will be introduced to local governance and civic institutions. In addition, delegates participating in the healthcare program will observe the US healthcare system and HIV/AIDS services delivered by American healthcare facilities, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and faith-based groups. Additionally, the delegates will be introduced to organizations that deliver social services, NGOs and media outlets working to raise public awareness about HIV/AIDS, and advocacy and fundraising experts.    

Open World is a unique, nonpartisan initiative of the US Congress that brings emerging leaders from Russia and other participating countries to the United States to work with their counterparts and experience American civil society first-hand. More than 10,500 Open World participants have been hosted in more than 1,500 communities in all 50 US states since the program’s inception in 1999.  

Both Open World and AIHA have extensive expertise in bringing groups of Russian political, civic, and healthcare leaders to cities across the United States for intensive, short-term professional exchanges designed to increase participants’ understanding of effective methods of providing comprehensive, targeted health services. Russian communities involved in the 2006 exchanges will join AIHA’s regional network of more than 350 Open World/CLDP alumni in some 50 communities spanning eight oblasts. 

For more information about Open World, please visit www.openworld.gov.  

Created in 1992 by a consortium of major healthcare provider associations and professional medical education organizations, AIHA establishes and manages twinning partnerships between health-related institutions in the United States and their counterparts in Africa, Asia, Eurasia, and the Caribbean. 

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), funded by the American people, provides economic and humanitarian assistance in more than 100 countries to provide a better future for all.

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