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Global Health Matters

September - October, 2007  |  Volume 6, Issue 5

Fogarty Director Accompanies HHS Secretary to Africa to Visit US-supported Programs

In Tanzania, the US delegation met with Fogarty grantee, Dr.
Kisali Pallangyo, (at right) of Muhimbili University of Health and
Allied Sciences . From left, HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt, CDC
Director Dr. Julie Gerberding, Fogarty Director Dr. Roger I. Glass,
and CDC official Dr. Stephan Wiktor.

Fogarty International Center’s Director Roger I. Glass recently accompanied HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt and a group of senior U.S. government leaders to the African nations of South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania and Rwanda, in order to observe U.S. government programs that are delivering health care to underserved communities.

The delegation visited communities that receive funding through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund). The visits allowed Secretary Leavitt to assess the impact of U.S.-supported programs in Africa and to reinforce the need for sustainable partnerships with host-country governments and local organizations. In each country, the delegation met with government officials, health care providers and scientists, and visited sites such as urban hospitals, rural health clinics, home-based-care settings, programs for orphans and academic institutions.

Fogarty Director Dr. Roger I. Glass receives a gift from
local Zulu leader, Inkosi S. Zondi, at the Centre for
the AIDS Program of Research in South Africa.

The group toured the Gasabo District Residential Community and Primary Care Clinic, in the Kirongi District of Rwanda, where the PMI supports the home-based management of fever by training community health workers to diagnose and treat symptoms of malaria-induced fever in children six months to five-years-old. The PMI-funded program has dramatically reduced the number of hospitalizations for malaria in the surrounding area. "I saw that the programs are having an impact on the ground because every child with fever can get medicine; they demonstrated that this was a very successful program," Secretary Leavitt said.

While visiting Tanzania, the delegation met with Dr. Kisali Pallangyo, Vice Chancellor of Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) in Dar es Salaam. MUHAS participates in a number of Fogarty-supported collaborations that provide training in informatics, infectious disease research, and AIDS research.

Another highlight of the trip was a visit to the Centre for the AIDS Program of Research (CAPRISA) site in Vulindlela District, KwaZulu Natal Province, South Africa, a non-profit HIV/AIDS research, treatment and care center program supported by Fogarty’s AIDS Training and International Research Program.