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The Daughters of Charity and the DREAM PROJECT
DREAM, an acronym for Drug Resource Enhancement against AIDS and Malnutrition, is a program of global focus to treat AIDS in Africa that the Community of Sant'Egidio began in February of 2002.
The program is the child of a dream: to confront the epidemic of AIDS in the African continent in a new and more effective way. The dream is also that there is equality between the North and South of the world.
The program, which is free, includes prevention to avoid the transmission of HIV from mother to child. With formation programs DREAM fights also against the prejudice and the shame felt by those who are sick. The Daughters of Charity collaborate with the Community of Sant'Egidio in this project in at least 5 places in Africa.
Mozambique. The problem in this country is very serious because it is believed that between 9.4 and 15% of adults are infected.
The oldest centre of the Daughters of Charity is in Mozambique that began in 2003 in Chokwe. This program is extended to the interior of the country with numerous centres and services in the diagnosis, treatment, and the control of AIDS. The program is directed to people who live in extreme poverty, mainly pregnant women. Their effectiveness is outstanding since more than 70% of the patients of the Project that receive an antiviral therapy have almost a 98% decrease of the viral load.
Democratic Republic of Congo. The war of 1998 aggravated the conditions of life of the Congolese. The rate of those positive for the virus in the adult population was 3.2% in 2005 and in women 4.9%. (OMS, ONU/SIDA 2006). It is believed that at the end of 2005 more than a million people were living with AIDS.
The centre of Mbandaka opened in February 2009 and serves about 750,000 people.
Cameroon. The centre in Cameroon began in 2008. The official statistics of 2005 indicated that 6.8% of women and 4.1% of men were positive for the virus. About 10 to 25% of pregnant women are positive. The hospital of the Daughters of Charity of Dschang is one of the more important institutions of the region. Its neighbouring DREAM center and molecular investigation laboratory is able to take care of patients in the centre but also at home. Around 35% of the population is cured in the hospital. Thanks to the services at the centre and in homes there has been a 50% reduction of the transmission of HIV from mother to child.
Tanzania. The Daughters of Charity opened a DREAM Centre in Masanga on the 22nd of October, 2010 to serve of a population of 40,000 people. The Centre has a laboratory for the detection and control of the treatments, a welcome hall, pharmacy and room for consultations, blood donation and a nutritional centre.
The conditions of life in Tanzania are very precarious. Small farmers, merchants and miners fight against poverty, unemployment, a mediocre educational system and very modest housing of stone shacks and wood. Nevertheless they are very hard-working people. The DREAM programme provides tangible help and a real hope to people of this isolated region.
The rate of frequency of HIV in Tanzania is 9% and the life expectancy is 46 years. The UN places Tanzania among the poorest countries in the world. Nearly 60% of the population lives with less than 2 dollars a day and 20% with less than a dollar a day.
Kenya. Kenya is a country of great natural beauty that remains poor with bad infrastructure and with serious sanitary risks. The majority possess the minimum to live, among them refugees from neighbouring countries.
The DREAM centre was opened in Nairobi in 2008. A team for home care had carried out previous studies. The centre is run by a local team that is very well formed and who has already had important results among the people they assist.
Nigeria. The first centre was opened in Kuban near Abuja. Since January of 2007 they have used a holistic treatment, assisting people with HIV/AIDS, or with infections and malnutrition.
The Daughters of Charity collaborate in the centre with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and the Community of Sant Egidio.
The opening of other centres is expected in the near future.
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