Working in Partnership Against HIV/AIDS

In 2000, in response to the massive threat HIV and AIDS posed in the sub-Saharan nation of Botswana, Merck joined with the Government of Botswana and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to form the African Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Partnerships. The Merck Company Foundation has committed $56.5 million to the partnership to provide treatment, care and support for people living with HIV and AIDS, as well as to help prevent its further spread. In addition, Merck agreed to donate its antiretroviral medicines to Botswana's national antiretroviral treatment program for the partnership's duration.

The partners selected Botswana because it had one of the highest adult prevalence rates of HIV and AIDS in the world, a viable existing healthcare infrastructure and strong political will and commitment to address the challenges of HIV and AIDS.

In 2007, ACHAP expanded its support to target co-infection of HIV and tuberculosis (TB). HIV infection has fueled an explosive increase in TB cases in Botswana since the early 1990s: It is estimated that 60-86 percent of TB patients are HIV positive, and HIV-related TB is the leading cause of death among adult AIDS patients.

Measures of success

ACHAP has helped reduce both the number of deaths and the spread of HIV/AIDS throughout Botswana. A sampling of its achievements:

• saved more than 50,000 lives by cutting the mortality rate among adults in half,
• dramatically reduced mother-to-child transmission and reduced new infections among children by 80%,
• significantly improved blood supply safety,
• constructed 35 infectious disease care clinics and trained more than 7,000 healthcare workers.