DREAM CENTER
(Drug Resource Enhancement against Aids and Malnutrition)
Kinshasa
There is a frontier of hope against the HIV/AIDS in Africa.
Opens in Kinshasa, a DREAM Centre for the treatment of HIV/AIDS.
It will be inaugurated on July 9, at 10:30 am.
The Dream Center is the result of a cooperation agreement signed by the Community of Sant'Egidio with the Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is committed to providing the drugs for the treatment. The DREAM program is already in the country since 2009, with a treatment center in Mbandaka, in the region of the Equator.
The Kinshasa center is funded by Assicurazioni Generali and the Association "Children of the Danube". The Italian Co-operation supports with funding for the equipment of the laboratory of molecular biology.
The Community delegation, present at the ceremony, will consist of the president of the Community, prof. Marco Impagliazzo, president of the DREAM Foundation, prof. Maria Cristina Marazzi, the coordinator for the Africa of DREAM, Dr. Paola Germano.
Participate for the Congolese government, the Minister of Health, Professor. Victor Kaput and numerous authorities.
According to local health authorities DREAM is a center of excellence in the country where it is estimated that over 500,000 people are living with HIV/AIDS.
The city of Kinshasa, capital of the country, has about 10 million inhabitants. The Centre is located in Bibwa, on the airport road, in 15 Manongo Avenue, a neighborhood inhabited by over 300,000 people, and is not served by health centers.
The Dream Center has already started its activities and its molecular biology laboratory, equipped for the determination of CD4 and viral load, is a national reference.
DREAM (Drug Resource Enhancement against Aids and Malnutrition) is a global program to combat, control, and for prevention and treatment of HIV infection in countries with limited resources. It is a program of public health and operational research, designed for the excellence, and is also a participatory and replicable program. Today DREAM is present in ten African countries, involving nearly two million beneficiaries.
DREAM has some fundamental pillars:
1 HIV testing and counseling
2 Treatment with antiretroviral therapy free of charge
3 Training of local personnel (doctors, nurses, laboratory technicians, community workers)
4 Health Education (schools and workplaces, prisons, mother-child centers)
5 Vertical Prevention mother-child with tri-therapy
6 Laboratories of Molecular Biology, determination of CD4 and Viral Load
7 Prevention and treatment of opportunistic diseases (opportunistic infections and sexually transmitted diseases)
8 Nutritional support for people with HIV
9 Home Care
Antiviral treatment is in itself the true and effective prevention, with its potential to eliminate the virus from the plasma and all body fluids, and drastically reduce the infectivity of those hit by the virus. Almost completely eliminating the virus from the infected person's body is to reduce to the same extent the possibility of this patient to infect others in turn.
According to the latest UNAIDS report 2010, we are witnessing the beginning of a reversal of the spread of the HIV epidemic in the world. In recent years, more than 5 million people in the southern countries of the world have had access to antiretroviral therapy, this is an important success, which has resulted in reduced new HIV infections. Faced with the spread of HIV disease data, we can now say that much has been done, many people are in therapy, thanks to international efforts by various international agencies, NGOs, and the different countries. But much remains to be done. It is a great challenge that DREAM has gathered a strong effort to extend antiretroviral treatment to as many people as possible in Africa. with the support of public and private donors.
DREAM is completely free for HIV patients.
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