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Page title; Grants awarded 2010

ORBIS International, Ethiopia

Project Overview
ORBIS was awarded a two year grant of $103,500 to continue their large-scale, multi-year project to eliminate blinding trachoma in Gamo Gofa Zone, Konso and Derashe Special Woredas, Ethiopia. ORBIS is carrying out a comprehensive blindness prevention project to implement the SAFE strategy in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR). This approach addresses the major causes of blindness, namely, cataract, trachoma and refractive error, all of which are preventable and/or curable. The main project area consists of the administrative areas of Gamo Gofa Zone, Derashe and Konso Special Woredas, comprising a total population of just over 2 million, mostly living in rural communities. The project started in 2007 and is expected to continue through the end of 2015.

In partnership with local health, education and economic development bureaus and WaterAid Ethiopia, and with significant in-kind antibiotic contributions from Pfizer through the International Trachoma Initiative, as part of the current grant, ORBIS will conduct direct surgery and antibiotic treatment interventions, train nurses and community health workers in eye care, improve water coverage and sanitation conditions and educate people on good eye health practices and hygiene. Ongoing project assessments will inform specific activities during each year of project work, and any necessary revisions will be incorporated to achieve goals and objectives.

Overall Goal
The overall goal of this project is to eliminate blinding trachoma in Gamo Gofa Zone and in Konso and Derashe Special Woredas by strengthening the capacities of local partners to fully implement the WHO-recommended SAFE strategy. The two specific goals of the project are to:
  1. Reduce the prevalence of trachomatous trichiasis to below 1%.
  2. Reduce the prevalence of active trachoma to below 10% in the target population by the end of 2015.



African Services Committee, Ethiopia

Project Overview
Africa Service Committee was awarded $83,500 over two years to provide for the integration of additional HIV prenatal and antenatal prevention, testing, access to treatment, and care services in ASC's Mekele clinic, provided by an additional ART physician (OB/GYN), ART obstetric nurse, and pediatric nurse case manager. The proposed project is needed to expand ASC Ethiopia's HIV program prevention reach and treatment impact through increased emphasis on HIV testing of pregnant women, pMTCT, antenatal counseling and care, breastfeeding support, early infant diagnosis and pediatric testing, and ongoing HIV treatment, care, nutrition, and case management for the family. HIV and CD4 testing, integrated sexual and reproductive health services, and antiretroviral treatment (ART) have been initiated at ASC sites; yet pMTCT, early infant diagnosis, ART adherence counseling, pediatric and adult case management, and nutrition are needed to ensure the success of the clinical interventions, squarely focused on maternal, newborn, child and family health outcomes.

Overall Goal
The overall goal of this program is to increase the number of HIV positive mothers diagnosed through ASC's Mekele clinic who in turn prevent HIV transmission to their newborns, through use of condoms, pMTCT, and exclusive breastfeeding; to increase number of infants and children tested for HIV; and to increase number of mothers and their children who regain their health through prevention of opportunistic infections and access and adherence to ART and nutritional support services.


Umkhuseli Fund Management, South Africa

Project Overview
Umkhuseli Fund Management was awarded a one year grant of $80,000 to supplement the third year of an innovative pilot for a community based MDR-TB treatment program in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. The project entails continuing to pilot a new model for MDR TB treatment allowing patients to receive MDR TB treatment in their homes instead of in the hospital. To date, 456 patients have been initiated on MDR TB treatment in this program which has been piloted in four sites in KZN starting in 2008, including Thulasiswe, Murchison, Manguzi and Greytown hospitals. During the first two years of funding the Izumi Foundation supported critical elements necessary for a successful community-based MDR-TB program including early detection of side-effects from MDR-TB drugs (e.g. hearing loss via audiology), aggressive management of side effects (nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea), and nutritional supplementation. In addition, a core group was established consisting of TB programme supporters / data capturers (4) and one data coordinator to ensure the programme is monitored and evaluated. The current grant will provide continued funding for the core staff group as well as provide hearing aids and funds for evaluation to assess the effectiveness of the piloted model with the hopes of hastening its expansion. The promising data coming out of the mid-term evaluation has prompted DoH to aim for a decentralised point of care in each of the eleven districts in the province of KZN.

Overall Goal
The overall goal of the project is to ensure successful out-patient treatment to MDR-TB patients in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, that fall outside the capacity of the conventional in-patient MDR-TB program, and to evaluate this treatment model for the purpose of using it in other settings strained with increasing MDR-TB burden.