Key Foundation Donor Visits Rwanda

8/22/2008

Nicole Rustad from Club Penguin visits key interventions in Kigali, Rwanda

Nicole Rustad and Dr. Martha Mukaminega at Nzige Health Center.

Kigali, Rwanda—On August 22, Nicole Rustad from Club Penguin visited the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation in Rwanda to witness first-hand the efforts being made to ensure that women and children have access to high quality HIV prevention, care, and treatment services.

Club Penguin is a Web site and virtual world for kids and is affiliated with Walt Disney Company. Last December, Club Penguin launched Coins for Change, a campaign that allowed children to donate virtual coins they earned playing games on the Club Penguin Web site. The children could choose one of three real-world causes — children’s health, the environment, or children in developing countries. Of the more than 2 billion coins donated, close to 40 percent were directed to children’s health, translating into $394,000 for the Foundation. This very generous gift was Club Penguin’s first contribution to the Foundation.

While in Rwanda, Rustad met with the technical team for a brief presentation of the Foundation’s activities in the country, before traveling to the Nzige Health Center, a rural health facility about one hour’s drive from Kigali. Accompanied by the Foundation’s Technical Director, Dr. Martha Mukaminega, Rustad toured the health facility and various service delivery points — from the patients’ registry, to the voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) room, to the antiretroviral treatment (ART) and lab services. The team spent quite some time visiting newborns and their mothers in the maternity ward — the ideal place to see the vital role the Foundation’s support plays in prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV.

Rustad expressed her appreciation for the dedicated Foundation team, the Rwamagana District, and the Nzige Health Center staff who work tirelessly to bring hope to children and families infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.

The Foundation’s support to Nzige Health Center started in July 2004 when the VCT and PMTCT services were launched. A year later, ART and HIV care services followed. The Foundation’s support to Nzige Health Center also includes: an innovative performance-based financing system to increase the quantity, quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of basic health services; mother and child health; family planning; emergency obstetric care; integrated management of childhood illnesses; and health insurance services known as “Mutuelle de Sante.” As of June 2008, 196 patients were actively on ART at Nzige, of whom 30 (or 15 percent) were children. Furthermore, 1,849 women were counseled, tested for HIV, and received their results in the previous 24 months alone.