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The Romania-American Children’s Center
By the year 2000, 60 percent of Europe’s pediatric HIV/AIDS cases were found in Romania, mostly in infants who had been orphaned or were living in public institutions. The vast majority of HIV-infected children were not exposed to the virus through mother-to-child transmission, but through HIV-infected blood transfusions. The majority of these cases were concentrated in Constanta. Beginning in 1990, all pediatric AIDS cases were sent to a one-room clinic inside Constanta’s Municipal Hospital. The government program rapidly outgrew its limited resources.
In 2001, the Abbott Fund supported the Baylor College of Medicine in building the Romanian-American Children’s Center. This center provides state-of-the art treatment for 600 HIV positive children, including antiretroviral therapy. A comprehensive program of support also is provided for children and their families, including psychosocial counseling, support groups, and awareness and prevention education.
Results of this model clinic have been dramatic. In just three years, death rates among children with HIV in Constanta dropped by 90 percent, as documented in the journal Pediatrics and other journals. The response has demonstrated the feasibility of establishing pediatric HIV treatment in developing countries through public-private partnerships.
Additional key elements of Abbott Fund's support for the Baylor Romania program include mobile and home-based care programs for 200 families who are unable to visit the center; staff training and resources to sustain management systems; the renovation of the Pediatrics Ward at the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Constanta, which has improved infrastructure and quality of care for all children served at the hospital; and the purchase and renovation of Flower House, a group home for 10 abandoned HIV-positive children in Constanta.
The clinic in Romania has since served as the model for subsequent Baylor clinics, as well as the expansion of training efforts on pediatric HIV care; for more information click here.
HIV/AIDS International Laboratory Center of Excellence
In 2007 Baylor International Pediatric AIDS initiative (BIPAI) dedicated a state-of-the-art HIV/AIDS International Laboratory Center of Excellence laboratory in partnership with and located at the Stefan S. Nicolau Institute of Virology in Bucharest, Romania. A grant from Abbott Fund financed the capital improvements for the HIV/AIDS International Laboratory Center.
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