Laboratory Facilities
Providing Laboratory Equipment – Senkatana Centre
Senkatana Centre, an antiretroviral HIV/AIDS clinic that opened in May 2004. The name Senkatana derives from a Lesotho legend. Some time ago a terrible monster devoured all the people and animals of Lesotho except for a lone pregnant woman who eventually gave birth to a boy named Senkatana. When he grew older Senkatana asked his mother why there were no people in Lesotho and she told him the story of the monster. So Senkatana armed himself with a spear and slayed the dragon, freeing all the people and animals of Lesotho from the belly of the monster.
Here, HIV is the monster and threatens the nations existence and the clinic is Senkatana; their hope for survival. Senkatana Center serves as a learning center for Lesotho’s National ARV program. This partnership involves the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Lesotho Medical Association, People Living Openly with HIV/AIDS (PLOWA) and Tsepong Counseling Center and Christian Health Association of Lesotho (CHAL). It was established with support from Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) Foundation through its Secure The Future programme.
We are raising funds to support the purchase of a CD-4 counter. The absence of this technology jeopardizes the success of ARV therapy and is needed to monitor the success or otherwise of these important interventions. Measurements of CD4+ T lymphocytes are essential for staging HIV-infected patients, determining their need for antiretroviral medications, and monitoring the course of their infection. The CD4 count—expressed in adults as the absolute number of CD4 cells per microliter of blood, and in children as a percentage of total lymphocytes or total T lymphocytes—has enormous prognostic and therapeutic implications, and forms the basis for most HIV treatment decisions. In developed countries, CD4 counts are typically performed every three to six months for each patient.
For more information on Senkatana see www.securethefuture.com/focus/data/lesotho.ppt.
Fund-raising target for Laboratory Equipment - $20,000