Africa: An Enduring Commitment

In 2005, 12-year-old Jean-Pierre Ntakirumtimana was barely able to walk. He spent most days in bed, his legs covered with painful open sores and edema that made it almost impossible to hold his delicate frame. His sister Eugenie had been taking care of him since she was only 16 years old.

Four years later, with the support of a community health worker named Beatrice and treatment he receives from a nearby hospital where CHAI and Partners In Health are working to improve rural care, Jean-Pierre is a happy and thriving teenager who is able to attend school regularly. Beatrice visits him every day not only to administer his medicines, but also to help with schoolwork and to mentor Jean-Pierre and Eugenie, as they support their family through local farming work.

In 2005, CHAI joined Partners In Health and the government of Rwanda to help advance a comprehensive primary healthcare model that works to ensure that high-quality services are available in underserved rural areas. Dispatching trained and motivated community health workers, like Beatrice, to provide basic services in homes is helping reduce the burden on patients of having to walk long distances to health centers, thereby increasing adherence and utilization rates for primary health care. In the first year of the program, hospital deliveries increased by 650 percent per month, more than 15,000 people were tested for HIV, and 2,800 people were placed on treatment. Building on these successes, CHAI has worked with the government of Rwanda to develop and expand this program to strengthen primary health care nationally – and to help more people like Jean-Pierre.

In the summer of 2008, when President Clinton visited Jean-Pierre at his home, Jean-Pierre told him that when he grows up, he’d like to become a doctor to help other kids who struggle like he has. None of this would be possible without CHAI’s Rural Program work, and his smiling face serves as a reminder of the great difference CHAI is making in the lives of millions of people.

Support Our Work »