User:Admacdonald/Gheskio

GHESKIO
Les Centres GHESKIO (pronounced guess-q) was the first institution in the world exclusively dedicated to the fight against HIV/AIDS. A French acronym meaning the Haitian Group for the Study of Kaposi's Sarcoma and Infectious Diseases, GHESKIO was founded in 1982 by a consortium of Haitian health professionals.

GHESKIO has provided life-saving antiretroviral therapy (ART) to a network of over 9,000 patients and treats more than 140,000 patients annually at its downtown Port-au-Prince location alone. Through networking with 116 partner institutions from the public and private sectors, GHESKIO's programs serve 26 locations in all 10 provinces of Haiti. Treatment outcomes for patients receiving ART at GHESKIO are equal to patients in the most advanced medical centers in the world.

By integrating primary care, social support programs, and ART, GHESKIO provides a comprehensive approach including treatment of HIV/AIDS, as well as other sexual transmitted diseases, tuberculosis, malnutrition, and poverty. GHESKIO's services include comprehensive care for HIV infected individuals, victims of sexual trafficking and violence, nutritional support, extensions of microcredit and income generating activities, emergency home visits, care for accidental exposure to contaminated blood, and peer counseling and care for adolescents living with HIV/AIDS.

Since its inception, GHESKIO has worked in close partnership with the Haitian Ministry of Health, Haitian medical associations, international donor and research community and recently celebrated its 25th year of affiliation with Cornell University. In February 2009, GHESKIO launched the Institute for Infectious Diseases and Reproductive Health (IMIS), which doubles GHESKIO's capacity to train, study, and provide care. Despite Haiti's social and political unrest, GHESKIO has never once closed its doors to those it serves or charged fees to its patients.