By Barbara Rosasco | Project Team
2011 First Quarter Update
Mark visited Cambodia in November 2010 where he met with our Home Care Coordinator and Team to review the status of each family in the FSP. All operational aspects of the FSP remain as described in the program description . As a part of his visit, Mark also visited almost all of the families currently enrolled in the FSP. This quarterly visit by Mark is a standard practice and it is done in addition to the weekly visits that the Home Care Team makes to each family. Each family’s status is reviewed and the educational progress of the children is discussed along with any other issues that may need additional attention.
In December, after the completion of this trip, Mark learned of a significant development that will seriously impact the FSP families and program.
Due to a recent policy change by the UN’s Global Fund ( for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria) and the large medical NGOs which administer Global Fund services in Cambodia , patients, including the poorest, will now be required to pay small fees for services which were previously free, such as required blood tests and doctor visits. This a serious development for patients for whom an additional unplanned expense of even $ 5 to $ 10 per month could prevent their continued participation in the Global Fund’s program to obtain life saving anti-retroviral medications.
For FSP families, living on the very edge of survival, without increased financial support from our program, these small fees will confront them with a choice of seeking the medical care essential to their continuing survival or of feeding their children.
This alarming development could not have come at a worse time. Food price inflation in the developing world already threatens the ability of many families to maintain a level adequate nutrition necessary for survival.
At a time when our FSP budget is already strained by rising inflation and the difficult fundraising environment, we will need to increase the monthly allocation to our FSP families to pay these medical fees or face the simple fact that hungry poor families will choose food over medical care, an action which will inevitably lead to a rise in mortality and orphaned children. Consequently, you will note that our program support amounts have increased.
The FSP 2010 budget year has been completed, but the GlobalGiving site does not offer an easy way for us to distinguish from 2010 budget needs vs 2011 unless we repost our project.
The 2011 annual budget for the FSP is now projected at $ 106,000 ( $118 per patient family.) At the present time we have raised $32,000 from various donors, leaving us with substantial funding needs.
When including a portion of the costs of fundraising via the GlobalGiving site, this means we will now assume a monthly cost of $ 125 per patient family.
We are most grateful for your continued support of the AIDS Patient Family Support Program.
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