The holiday season is traditionally a time of year when individuals and corporations get into the giving mood, as an increase in financial donations, volunteering, and other selfless acts of kindness pervades society.

 

Interactive Intelligence (News - Alert) CEO, Dr. Donald E. Brown, is joining the giving in a very big way. The company announced that Dr. Brown has made a donation of $1 million in stock to the Indiana University–Kenya Partnership, a program designed to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS. This is the single largest private donation since the program’s inception.

 

The Partnership began in 1989 when Indiana University School of Medicine and Moi University School of Medicine in Kenya joined forces to provide educational opportunities for their students, and to assist in the development of health care for Kenyan patients.

 

A decade later, the Partnership responded to the African AIDS pandemic by creating the Academic Model for Prevention and Treatment of HIV/AIDS, or AMPATH. Through AMPATH, more than 55,000 HIV-positive patients at 19 sites throughout western Kenya have been treated to date.

 

In addition to Dr. Brown’s donation, which is the largest private donation since the program’s inception, AMPATH has received a five-year, $60-million grant from USAID to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS in Kenya. Furthermore, the IU School of Medicine will augment this with $6 million over the 5 years of the grant.

 

Henrietta H. Fore, the administrator of USAID, director of foreign assistance and undersecretary for management, said “Through President Bush’s PEPFAR program, we are making resources available in countries with a substantial HIV/AIDS burden. These resources include support for prevention efforts, care and support, and treatment for affected patients.”

 

Robert Einterz, M.D., is associate dean for international affairs at the IU School of Medicine and co-founder of the IU-Moi partnership and AMPATH. As chief investigator of the grant, he will coordinate all the activities between IU School of Medicine, the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, Moi University School of Medicine and other U.S. partners and universities collaborating in the project.

 

Drs. Brown and Einterz are both graduates of the Indiana University School of Medicine and North Central High School in Indianapolis.

 

“I’ve long-admired Bob’s charitable work for AMPATH, particularly his efforts toward helping children through the group’s Orphan and Vulnerable Children program,” Brown said. “This program, which has served more than 1,900 children over the past two years, is based on a unique community ownership model that involves orphans, caregivers, health workers and land for cultivation. This kind of holistic model addresses problems at their root, providing a sustainable solution that empowers every community member.”

 

“Don’s financial support will significantly help to improve the lives of the impoverished and sick throughout Kenya,” Einterz said. “With an estimated 1.3 million Kenyans still infected with HIV, it will also help attract much-needed additional philanthropic support.”

 

As part of their work in western Kenya, AMPATH provides patients with anti-retroviral medicines, and operates a series of farms and food programs that provides food for tens of thousands of people weekly. The programs also serve to address poverty in the affected regions, by providing training and skills to patients as well as a micro-credit program that enables HIV/AIDS sufferers to become self sufficient, even as they receive treatment for the disease.

 

As one of the largest and most comprehensive HIV/AIDS programs in the world, AMPATH was nominated for a 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.