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Regional Knowledge Hub, WHO-Europe Collaborate to Provide HIV/AIDS-related Training in Belarus
March 29, 2007

 


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts: 
Jurkevich, Inna
Program Officer
AIHA/Washington, DC
Tel. 202.789.1136
ijurkevich@aiha.com


 
USAID-funded Project Helps Build Critical Capacity to Provide Care and Treatment to People Living with HIV/AIDS


WASHINGTON, DC, March 29, 2007—The American International Health Alliance (AIHA) is pleased to announce that the Regional Knowledge Hub for the Care and Treatment of HIV/AIDS in Eurasia is collaborating with WHO-Europe to train clinicians and allied medical professionals from Belarus in basic provision of antiretroviral therapy (ART) and other aspects of HIV and AIDS care. The WHO-Europe project is supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Two courses—Introduction to ART for Adults and Introduction to ART in Correctional Settings—were conducted by Knowledge Hub faculty last November and December in the Belorussian capital of Minsk. An onsite mentoring course—which is a key element of the Knowledge Hub’s comprehensive training approach because it reinforces classroom teaching by providing participants with hands-on clinical experience—was also conducted in December.

An additional two courses will be conducted this May: one on palliative care for patients with HIV or AIDS and one a specially designed 5-day faculty development workshop for medical professionals and educators from the Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education in Belarus. The latter workshop—which will be opened up to faculty from similar institutions from other countries in the region—will focus on the revision and expansion of existing HIV/AIDS curricula and offer training in effective adult learning methodology.

The Regional Knowledge Hub for the Care and Treatment of HIV/AIDS in Eurasia is a unique network of individual experts and stakeholder organizations in HIV medicine. Established in 2003 by WHO and AIHA with funding and support from the German Society for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and other donors, the Knowledge Hub’s goal is to build the human and organizational capacity necessary to provide high-quality care to people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in the nations of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. As of December 2006, the Knowledge Hub has trained 2,472 healthcare professionals from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan in various aspects of providing care and treatment to PLWHA.



Created in 1992 by a consortium of major healthcare provider associations andprofessionalmedical education organizations, AIHA establishes and manages programs and 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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