The History of the Access Project

In its first phase, with less than a million dollars, the Access Project successfully leveraged over one billion dollars for AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria programs from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. While funds for international health issues increased, the project saw that on-the-ground success lagged behind. It was clear that money alone would not solve the world’s health problems. Sustainability, transparency and a comprehensive approach are all vital if the funds are to reach the poor – and so became the very foundation of the Access Project’s mission.

In 2003, the Access Project intensified its strategic interventions in a few countries and today operates primarily in Rwanda, one of the sites of Access Project’s earliest impact. The project first helped Rwanda attract Global Fund financing and aided the country in its scale-up of voluntary counseling and testing for HIV. Between 2003 and 2004, in partnership with the Government of Rwanda, the Access Project helped expand the number of testing sites from two to more than 70.

Although millions of health dollars were flowing into Rwanda, the limitations of the country’s remote health centers often kept these resources from reaching those who needed it most. In response, the Access Project shifted its efforts from the national to the local level. In 2007, the Access team began working intensively with 32 health centers that serve about 10% (close to one million people) of Rwanda’s population, with a vision to reach and revitalize all the clinics in the country. This year, the Access team will be able to reach an additional million Rwandans, through the expansion and scale-up of health initiatives.

In June of 2007, Access Project began an initiative to eliminate five of the most prevalent neglected tropical diseases (NTDs): soil transmitted helminth infections, schistosomiasis, onchocerciasis (river blindness), lymphatic filariasis and trachoma. These disfiguring and life-threatening parasitic and bacterial infections afflict at least three million people in Rwanda. Although the diseases could be easily treated, their disabling effects have an enormous impact on the work force and consequently the productivity of Rwanda, preventing children from attending school and reducing future earnings. In some cases, the stigma is so great that people are ostracized in their own communities.

Through the Neglected Tropical Disease program, the Access Project is working with the Rwanda Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and the World Health Organization to develop a national plan for carrying out necessary interventions at the district level. The plan includes connecting health centers across the country with the research, interventions and training needed to fight these diseases.