FHI/USAID Provides Anti-AIDS Drugs in Rwanda
On February 28, 2003, four patients with HIV at the Biryogo Medical and Social Center became the first patients in Rwanda to receive antiretroviral therapy through a project developed by Family Health International and funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Two patients are widows in their forties caring for their own children as well as orphans from the 1994 war and genocide. Another one is a married woman who tested positive in 1995, and lives with her husband, who has had multiple partners, but has chosen not to learn his HIV status despite a recent test. None of these women can work because of HIV-related illnesses.
The fourth woman is a 20-year-old unmarried student who aspires to be a laboratory technician and continue her education at university.
