Dignitas International: An Overview

DIGNITAS INTERNATIONAL is a medical humanitarian organization  dramatically increasing access to essential HIV/AIDS-related  prevention, treatment, care and support, including life-saving  antiretroviral medications. Dignitas nurtures and strengthens people  affected by AIDS, particularly women and children, and trains and  supports caregivers, coordinating services with governments and  grassroots groups to empower communities in their response to AIDS.  Dignitas works with the Malawi Ministry of Health to deliver this  sustainable community-based programming in Malawi, Africa, and will  expand to additional regions overwhelmed by the pandemic. Dignitas is  led by Dr. James Orbinski, who accepted the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize as  International President of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF/Doctors  Without Borders).

Community-Based Care

Dignitas's community-based care model empowers communities to overcome  the severe shortage of healthcare workers, the primary obstacle to  delivering effective HIV/AIDS-related treatment and prevention in  resource-limited contexts. Community-based care overcomes this  challenge by leveraging a huge, untapped resource: the very people  already responding to AIDS in their own communities. These people are  caring for sick family members, friends and neighbours by drawing  water, ensuring that they have food and household necessities, and  nursing those too ill to care for themselves. But without HIV  medications and an effective system to deliver them, these people can  do little more than help those with AIDS die more comfortably.  Organizing, training and linking community caregivers to the formal  health system makes them part of a strengthened continuum of care that  enables their families and communities to survive AIDS. As millions  more people become in need of treatment, the only viable means to  deliver treatment and prevention will be community-based care.

Zomba District, Malawi

In October 2004, Dignitas began treating patients in the Zomba  District of Malawi, one of the world's poorest countries where 14% of  the adult population is living with HIV. Dignitas has worked closely  with national and local governments to coordinate and implement HIV/ AIDS programming. At the end of 2007:

• Close to 4,000 people per month were being tested for HIV in all  parts of Zomba District;
• More than 4,500 children and adults had been started on life-saving  medications, with more than 200 new patients gaining access to these  medications every month;
• More than 25,000 mothers-to-be have accessed Prevention of Mother-to- Child Transmission (PMTCT) services to help prevent transmission of  HIV to their newborns, and an average of 1,000 mothers-to-be access  PMTCT services each month at 22 sites;
• Hundreds of home-based care workers have been trained, enabling  thousands of the most ill patients to receive essential care at home;
• HIV/AIDS services were continuing to be decentralized to rural  health centres to increase access to treatment throughout the  district. In addition, close to 6,000 medical consultations were being  carried out each month, and more than 10,000 attendees were directly  reached through prevention education, helping to raise awareness,  prevent new infections and reduce stigma.

Building an Effective International Response to AIDS

Malawi is just one setting where Dignitas will establish community- based care programs. Dignitas is committed to rigorous monitoring &  evaluation and operational research, and is sharing research results  so that its healthcare delivery model can be adapted and replicated by  governments, non-governmental organizations and other HIV/AIDS service  implementers in areas overwhelmed by AIDS throughout the developing  world. Strong support from individual donors and organizations such as  the Bank of Montreal (BMO), the MAC AIDS Fund, the Stephen Lewis  Foundation and Rotary International is helping Dignitas refine and  disseminate community-based approaches that will enable a truly  effective international response to AIDS.