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August 2008: Issue 1
Strategic Applications International Update
SAI's work in the Kingdom of Swaziland continues as we begin to transform a country and save a generation of children impacted by HIV/AIDS. Our e-newsletter will bring you information on how we are making progress and how you can join our efforts.
In This Issue
Halting the pandemic of HIV/AIDS
First GO Team sent to Swaziland
President signs PEPFAR Reauthorization
SISTER TO SISTER
What can you do to make a difference in someone's life? Join sisters around the world who are creating a network of economic and social relationships between African women infected by the HIV/AIDS virus and themselves and who want to see change and the transformation of the future.
Save a generation by joining us at our website sis2sis.org.
Halting the pandemic of HIV/AIDS
The Kingdom of Swaziland faces a pandemic of frightening and overwhelming proportions. It will take all the country's resources and all available public and private sector resources, domestic and international, to turn the tide a generation is lost.
Surveys indicate that in 1992, 3.9% of pregnant women in Swaziland tested HIV positive, in 2006 this number had increased ten-fold to 39.2%. The current HIV prevalence level is considered to be the highest in the world.
It is estimated that approximately 100,000 AIDS orphans exist in Swaziland today or about 10% of the total population. One in four children is an orphan as a result of AIDS. The population has declined from 1.2 million to 954,000 in 2007. Life expectancy has declined from a high of 57.5 years in 1990, to the lowest life expectancy rate in Africa of 32.2 years today. Forty percent of the population is under the age of 15 years.
The rapid increase in orphans, combined with the impact of HIV/AIDS on the life expectancy of adults in Swaziland means that the capacity for children to be absorbed into existing extended family structures is breaking down. Child-headed households, abandoned and starving children, lack of access to education, housing, and nutrition are compounded by the inability of the family, the community, and the government to respond to such an overwhelming pandemic.
SAI has been asked by Nazarene Compassionate Ministries, Inc. (NCMI) the non-profit humanitarian arm of the Church of the Nazarene, and its consortium of partners to build a plan to bring relief to this problem in Swaziland. In addition to NCMI, partners in this consortium include: the Ministry of Health, Helping Hands Africa, Swaziland Nazarene Health Institutions (SNHI includes Raleigh Fitkin Memorial Hospital (RFM), 17 Community Health Clinics, and the Nazarene College of Nursing), Nazarene Higher Education Consortium (NAHEC includes the Nazarene Colleges of Education, Nursing, and Theology), Church of the Nazarene Evangelism Health and HIV & AIDS Task Force, New Hope Center, ARTS II Center, Heart to Heart International, Bethany First Church of the Nazarene (BFC), and Southern Nazarene University Colleges of Nursing and Business.
Each partner has a specific role and interest in this project. SAI has developed the strategic plan with the vision and input of each of the partners and is assisting with the implementation of the effort.
Delegation Visit from Swaziland
Recently a delegation of Swaziland representatives composed of both church and government leaders, came to the United States to discuss the partnership involving the National Board of the Swaziland Church of the Nazarene, the Board of the Raleigh Fitkin Memorial Hospital, located in Manzini, Swaziland, and other entities of the International Church of the Nazarene.
The delegation also met with representatives of the Pfizer Foundation, Bristol Meyer Squibb Foundation, staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, members of Congress, the Office for Global Health, USAID, and the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator.
This visit and introduction was one of the first efforts to support the revitalization of RFM Hospital and the Swaziland Nazarene Health Institutions with NCMI serving as the coordinating mechanism to facilitate public and private partnerships to fund the initiative.
Using its network of 11,000 members, 150 churches, 42 elementary and high schools, the Nazarene Higher Education Consortium, and the healthcare infrastructure of Raleigh Fitkin Memorial Hospital and 17 associated clinics, the Swazi Church is rising to the challenge of this crisis. They bring spiritual and life-saving hope to their neighbors by investing not only their own resources but also tapping into resources of the International Church of the Nazarene and the international community as a whole.
Initial efforts are underway to raise public and private resources to rebuild the Swaziland Nazarene Health Institutions in Swaziland. SAI has played an integral in facilitating the site visit and bringing financial resources to the effort.
Swaziland Partnership Sends First GO Team
Based on the crisis facing Swaziland, Bethany First Church of the Nazarene recently announced a ten-year commitment to 'Reducing HIV/AIDS Through Spiritual, Compassionate & Educational Resources' in collaboration with Southern Nazarene University (SNU) titled The Swaziland Partnership.
Harmon Schmelzenbach, the first Nazarene missionary in Swaziland, left for Africa from Bethany, OK in the early 1900s to open the work in remote Endzingeni. His grave sits behind the chapel there, on a site that includes a clinic, an elementary and secondary school.
The first GO Team will arrive in Swaziland at the end of July with a group of 40+ volunteers. The team will provide medical, educational, construction, and humanitarian services during their 10-day visit. Volunteers will deliver medical training, develop an HIV/AIDS prevention curriculum with the College of Nursing and the College of Education, develop income-generating strategies for people living with AIDS, conduct home visits with the HIV/AIDS Home-Based Care Task Force, provide services for orphans and other vulnerable children, and rebuild the nurses housing and clinic at Sitsatsawani.
The Swaziland Partnership expects to send an average of three GO Teams a year over the next decade to address many of the work elements in the strategic plan to rebuild the healthcare infrastructure of the Swaziland Nazarene Health Institutions.
President Signs PEPFAR Reauthorization for $48 Billion
The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) was reauthorized by Congress this month with an increase from $15 Billion over the last five years to $48 Billion over the next five years. The President is expected to sign the bill. PEPFAR represents one of the administration's successes in foreign affairs.
This increase represents a major opportunity for greater funding to support AIDS prevention, treatment, and care in Swaziland and many other countries worldwide. Efforts have already begun to work with the U.S. Embassy in Swaziland to identify ways to support the countrywide plan to reduce the impact of HIV/AIDS in the country with the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rate. A concept paper outlining the ways that the Swaziland Nazarene Health Institutions and the broader capacity of the National Board of the Swaziland Nazarene Church could strengthen a nationwide response was shared with the U.S. Mission in Swaziland.
SAI worked closely with congressional staff to ensure that former restrictions on the countries designated as eligible for PEPFAR be changed to include Swaziland.
We look forward to keeping in touch with you.
James and Colleen Copple
Strategic Applications International, LLC
