Clinton Health Access Initiative

In 2010-2011, Global Health Corps Fellows will work at the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative in Rwanda and Burundi.

President William J. Clinton established the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) in 2002 to close the gap in access to AIDS medication by negotiating lower prices for lifesaving antiretroviral treatment, and by working with governments to improve the national health care systems required to deliver crucial medicines.

In order to ensure that countries have the capacity to administer these commodities, CHAI works on the ground in 22 countries to support governments in the development of HIV/AIDS care and treatment programs for vulnerable populations, particularly children and those living in hard-to-reach, rural areas.

Since 2002, CHAI has expanded its scope of work beyond ARVs to increase access to diagnostics and malaria medicines, as well as to address a variety of issues that must be overcome in order to turn the tide of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, including supporting governments to deliver HIV/AIDS services to underserved populations, increasing countries’ human resource capacity to deliver care and treatment, and preventing the transmission of the disease from mothers to their children.