Aug 2007

ART-JOY-LOVE

Hadassah Pediatric AIDS Volunteer Program in

Ethiopian Orphanages

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What is ART-JOY-LOVE?

ART-JOY-LOVE is a Pediatric AIDS program in Ethiopia, under the auspices of the Hadassah Pediatric AIDS Center in Jerusalem.  We treat HIV/AIDS orphans with antiretroviral therapy (ART) and other needed medical care -- and dispense the Joy and Love that are so needed. 

ART-JOY-LOVE work in the orphanages is carried out in collaboration with the local orphanage teams, the Ethiopian medical staff and other involved organizations. 

What is our mission?

Our mission is to volunteer in Ethiopian orphanages and assist the local teams by providing medical care, including antiretroviral therapy (ART), Joy and Love to the HIV/AIDS children.

Who are we?

This ART & JOY & LOVE program was initiated by Prof. Dan Engelhard, Head of Pediatrics and the Pediatric AIDS Center at the Hadassah University Hospital-Ein Kerem, Jerusalem. The program consists of physicians, nurses, students, medical clowns and non-professionals, who volunteer to go to Ethiopia to treat, care and love Ethiopian HIV/AIDS children. 

Hadassah is a non-governmental organization (NGO). The Hadassah University Medical Center is the flagship project of Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America, Inc., the largest women’s organization in the United States.  

The Hadassah Pediatric AIDS Center in Jerusalem consists of a multidisciplinary team, including physicians, nurses, pharmacists, social workers, psychologists, nutritionists, case managers and numerous specialists in a variety of medical fields.

Israel-Ethiopia Collaboration in Pediatric AIDS

Statistics indicate that close to 60,000 Ethiopian children become infected with HIV each year. It is also estimated that 2.2 million people – 200,000 of them children - are living with the virus in Ethiopia, making the country the third largest infected population in the world.

Since 2004, physicians and nurses from Ethiopia have been trained in the Pediatric AIDS Center in Jerusalem, and physicians from Hadassah have gone to Ethiopia to provided clinical mentorship in the pediatric clinics for HIV/AIDS children that are initiated following the training at Hadassah.  This is done within the scope of the train of trainers (TOT) program, part of Emergency Plan program partner I-TECH (the International Training and Education Center on HIV, Seattle, USA).  Prof. Engelhard is in charge of Pediatric AIDS in the TOT program, within "the Israel AIDS Consortium."

Dr. Dina Averbuch, from the
Hadassah Pediatric AIDS Center, Jerusalem

The ART-Joy-Love is another mode of Israel–Ethiopia collaboration. As a result of this project, the orphans were the first Ethiopian children to get ART (Anti Retroviral Therapy, the anti-AIDS medications). Within a year-and-a-half, more than 170 children were being treated with ART in the orphanage in Addis Ababa. Updated to January 2007, more than 200 chidren receive ART treatment in Addis Ababa orphanage.  There is ongoing contact and frequent consultation between the local team, the ART-Joy-Love volunteers in the orphanage and the multidisciplinary team at Hadassah in Jerusalem. This intensive collaboration has resulted in a rapid decline in the previously high mortality rate in the orphanage.  Whilst at the beginning of the project, 25% of the children died, we now observe a mortality rate of only 1% per year, and the happiness and quality of life of the children have improved dramatically.

 Dr. Galia Grisaru, from the AIDS Center    
at Dana, Ichilov Hospital, Tel Aviv

ART

ART (anti-retroviral therapy) was initiated in the orphanage in Addis Ababa in 2005 and in Debre Markos in 2006. The indications for ART and the chosen combinations are prescribed according to the guidelines of the Ethiopian Ministry of Health. The ART drugs are supplied by the Ethiopian Centers for Disease Controls & Prevention, and the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS relief (PEPFAR). 

Additional non-ART drugs are available in the orphanages, many of them donated.  Due to the efforts of Prof. Engelhard and Mr. Haim Divon’s, Deputy Director General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Head of the Center for International Cooperation (Mashav) - in June 2006, Walter Arbib, president and co-owner of Toronto-based SkyLink Aviation partnered with Lelei Lelaulu, president of Counterpart International, to donate and transport pharmaceuticals to the  Orphanage in Addis Ababa,

Joy

Hadassah’s medical clowns,

working in the Center are part of Magi's fund's "Dream Doctors" at Hadassah. 

They have two years experience in medical "clowning", using a unique clowns' language for children suffering from Aids and HIV virus. The "Dream Doctors" have already twice visited the orphanage in Addis Ababa twice.  They had great success in making the children happy increasing their hope and strengthening their motivation to battle the disease.  They also alleviated their stress and suffering.  Lately they also visited the orphanage in Debre Markos.