Description of partnership activities and how they address needs and challenges

What began as a pilot program in Romania in 1995 has since become one of the world’s largest university-based program dedicated to pediatric HIV-AIDS care globally, providing care in six African countries and Romania.

Early in the program, the main challenge was proving that children living with HIV could be provided with and adhere to high quality care and treatment in resource-poor settings and show positive measurable results. The pilot project in the Romanian clinic that led to the development of the BIPAI model addressed this challenge, and deaths among children declined from 15 percent to 1 percent, providing the first proof of concept for offering large-scale effective HIV treatment to children in a limited resource setting.

BIPAI has now treated over 300,000 pediatric AIDS patients in sub-Saharan Africa and trained 52,000 health care professionals and is credited as the leading force behind reducing the number of pediatric AIDS cases in Africa from 650,000 in 2003 to less than 150,000 today.

Additionally, the Malawi and Romania Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) program combines all the medical and psychosocial services provided at the clinic as well as community resources in order to achieve prevention of HIV transmission from mother to child.

The partnership between AbbVie and the AbbVie Foundation and BIPAI began in 2000 (AbbVie and AbbVie Foundation assumed the partnership following AbbVie’s separation from Abbott in 2013) with $25 million in cash grants and $30 million in product donations made to-date. Today BIPAI treats more than 300,000 children in over a dozen countries and remains one of the largest provider of pediatric HIV care and treatment in the world while continuing to expand its treatment of other conditions impacting the health and well-being of children and families worldwide.

Lessons learned

Despite prior lack of evidence that children with HIV/AIDS can be effectively cared for and treated in the developing world, this model program and its network of clinics are now successfully treating over 300,000 children, adolescents and their families living with HIV/AIDS.

Partnerships with governments, multilateral organizations, foundations and other donors are key to scaling-up and sustaining programs.

A long-term commitment and perspective are key to overcoming setbacks and enjoying successes in complex and large efforts, like helping BIPAI build and replicate its model in multiple countries.